An admitted drug dealer who worked as a police informant testified Tuesday that he delivered a pound of marijuana to Lehigh County Commissioner Zachary Cole-Borghi in 2024, and that Cole-Borghi was \u201cfidgety, paranoid and looking around nervous\u201d during the transaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me he worked in politics, that he worked at City Hall,\u201d said the man, whom prosecutors assigned the pseudonym \u201cRandy\u201d in court.<\/p>\n
Randy, the key witness at Cole-Borghi\u2019s preliminary hearing in Lehigh County Court, said the customer told him he was a county commissioner, so he did a Google search as soon as he left the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd his picture came up. I was like, \u2018Oh snap! This is crazy.\u2019 But it just freaked me out a little bit,\u201d Randy said.<\/p>\n
After Cole-Borghi was arrested<\/a> in August, the informant testified, he reached out to Randy and asked for a phone call. During the call, which was recorded by detectives, Cole-Borghi denied buying drugs from Randy and said police made up the allegations.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in politics. I hurt people\u2019s feelings. Especially the people who are prosecuting me,\u201d he said during the call, which was played aloud in court.<\/p>\n At the end of the hearing, Northampton County Judge Jacqueline Taschner ordered Cole-Borghi to stand trial. Taschner oversaw the hearing due to the recusal of Lehigh County\u2019s judges because of Cole-Borghi\u2019s position with the county.<\/p>\n Cole-Borghi, 35, of Bethlehem, is among more than three dozen people charged in a multistate drug operation following a grand jury investigation. He was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute a pound of marijuana, but unlike other defendants, was not charged with being part of a corrupt organization.<\/p>\n The hearing also included an additional conspiracy charge, but did not cover more than 100 new charges<\/a> lodged against him last week.<\/p>\n