Nearly $4 Million In Drugs Seized In Bucks Co.

DOYLESTOWN, PA — What started off as a routine traffic stop in Bedminster Township Friday night led to a drug investigation and the seizure of nearly $4 million worth of illicit drugs, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said Thursday.

Bedminster Township Officer officer James Zukow pulled over a Jeep for swerving and the driver, later identified as 28-year-old Christian Ochoa, of Laredo, Texas, consented to a search, which led to the seizure of one kilogram of heroin and fentanyl and nine kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $1.2 million.

That bust led to a search of a tractor trailer Wednesday night at a truck stop in Lehigh County, where detectives found nine more kilograms of heroin and fentanyl valued at $2.7 million. Authorities also recovered more than $43,000 in cash, a handgun, six cellphones and prescription painkillers.

An investigation revealed that Ochoa drove the drugs across the country and was stopped in Bucks County, most likely headed to New York City.

"We saved somebody else a lot of heartache and pain," District Attorney Matt Weintraub said.

Edith Tomasa Rodriguez Cardenas, 27, of Huntington Park, California, was a passenger in the car during the traffic stop and was also arrested.

Weintraub said the arrests were likely part of a much larger narco-trafficking organization and that he plans to utilize partnerships with federal agencies to track the source of the drugs.

Ochoa and Rodriguez Cardenas were charged Friday night with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Ochoa was also charged with a lane violation. Both were arraigned by District Judge Michael W. Petrucci and were sent to Bucks County Correctional Facility under $1 million bail each.

Charges are pending related to the Lehigh County search. In that search, a tractor trailer that Ochoa owned and had the logo "Ochoa Transport Services" was parked in Upper Macungie Township. K9 Baron from the Central Bucks Regional Police Department was called in to assist in the search and got a hit on the cab of the truck. The trailer was found to contain a legitimate load of agricultural products.

The case was investigated by detectives with the Bucks County District Attorney's Office Drug Strike Force, Bedminster Township Police, Dublin Borough Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Doylestown Township Police, Upper Macungie Township Police, Central Bucks Regional Police, with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security and the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office. The case is assigned for prosecution to Assistant District Attorney Megan Stricker.

"As you all know we are in the midst of a twin pandemic," Weintraub said. "We were already in a pandemic before we heard the word COVID-19 and that is the drug scourge that we've been battling for years, and as a result of the COVID pandemic, drug overdoses are up. I am really pleased and proud to say thank you to our police officers and all law enforcement that collaborated on this drug bust. Because of it, so many of our loved ones will not suffer a death at the hands of these narco-traffickers."