EMMAUS, Pa. – Authorities have charged 10 people they say operated a Lehigh County-based drug trafficking organization, including an Emmaus man accused of being its leader.

40-year-old Joaquin “Kino” Gonzalez, of Emmaus, led the organization, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday’s office said in a news release.

Sunday said the group used suppliers in Mexico to traffic fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine in multiple Pennsylvania counties.

The AG’s office said arrests were made in recent days. The Allentown Police Department assisted in Gonzalez’s arrest over the weekend, according to the news release.

Each of the 10 people is charged with corrupt organizations, possession with intent to deliver, conspiracy, and related offenses, the AG’s office said.

The AG’s office said the collaborative investigation began in 2024 and involved searches at numerous locations and seizures of large quantities of narcotics.

Investigators determined Gonzalez had a connection in Southern California, where a Mexican trafficking organization supplied him with drugs for distribution in Pennsylvania, according to the news release.

“This was a high-level, cross-country operation that polluted neighborhoods across the eastern part of the Commonwealth with deadly poisons,” Attorney General Sunday said.

“Closing down drug-trafficking pipelines remains a top priority for my office, as these traffickers value dollars over human lives, and we have seen, time and time again, the deadly violence attached to drug trafficking groups.”

The 10 people charged are:

Joaquin Gonzalez, 40, of Emmaus

Danny Cancel, 25, of Bethlehem

Joel Castro, 41, of Orefield

Sally Garcia-Colon, 39, of Emmaus

Jorge Marrero-Rodriguez, 60, of Allentown

Jordan Pagan, 37, of Leola

John Pagan DeJesus, 49, of Whitehall

Israel Perez, 45, of Bethlehem

Anthony Planas, 42, of Bethlehem

Hanzel Rivera, 37, of Bethlehem

The AG’s office said Gonzalez’s bail was set at $1 million. The nine other people are also in custody, authorities said.

Preliminary hearings are scheduled for May 12.

In 2024, investigators saw Gonzalez deliver six pounds of methamphetamine to Pagan, according to the AG’s office.

Additionally, investigators discovered approximately four pounds of methamphetamine, seven pounds of marijuana, and $2,500 in cash during a traffic stop involving Rivera, the AG’s office said.

The AG’s office said that during searches, investigators seized:

5 pounds of fentanyl

1.7 pounds of heroin

3,000 fentanyl pills

4.48 pounds of methamphetamine

4.6 pounds of cocaine

11.2 pounds of marijuana