Lehigh County’s criminal court will take up the request by three Lehigh Valley news organizations to unseal court documents related to the drug arrests of 22 people, including a recently reelected Lehigh County commissioner.
In a ruling Friday, Judge Thomas Capehart Jr. said the motion to unseal the records, filed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on behalf of The Morning Call, Lehigh Valley Live and Lehigh Valley News, should be heard in criminal, rather than civil court.
In his ruling, Capehart said he was taking no position on the news organizations’ request that the dockets related to the August arrest of Zach Cole-Borghi and 21 others, be unsealed. He said rather than dismiss the motion, it would be transferred in its entirety to criminal court.
Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan has argued that unsealing the documents would reveal sensitive information.
Holihan announced in late August that 22 people had been arrested in a four-state investigation into drug distribution. Cole-Borghi was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute a pound of marijuana. Several people charged in the investigation were charged with criminal conspiracy; however, Cole-Borghi was not.