In Re: Application to Intervene and Unseal of LehighValleyNews.com, The Morning Call and lehighvalleylive.com

Case Number: 2025-C-4385

Court: Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas

Clients: LehighValleyNews.com, The Morning Call, and lehighvalleylive.com

Background: In August 2025, the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office announced in a press release that 22 individuals had been arrested as part of a wide-ranging investigation into an interstate drug ring. The press release noted that some defendants were scheduled to appear at preliminary hearings, but didn’t include the names of the individuals who were arrested or the case docket numbers. 

After Lehigh County Commissioner Zach Cole-Borghi was arrested at a public building, the district attorney’s office confirmed that he was arrested in connection with the drug investigation and said a judge sealed court records related to the criminal charges. The sealing order has not been made available to the public, and the district attorney hasn’t explained why the charges for the other 21 individuals remain secret.

As of October 2025, basic information about the criminal prosecutions described in the press release remains unavailable to the public, including the charges filed against the individuals, their names, or the docket numbers. 

Reporters Committee Local Legal Initiative Attorney Paula Knudsen Burke filed an emergency petition to intervene and unseal the dockets and judicial records on behalf of three Pennsylvania news organizations: LehighValleyNews.com, The Morning Call, and lehighvalleylive.com. The petition argues that the news outlets have a right to access the sealed court records under the First Amendment and the Pennsylvania Constitution. 

Quote: “This protracted secrecy surrounding court dockets is a major blow to the presumption of openness in Pennsylvania’s public records,” said Jim Deegan, executive editor of LehighValleyNews.com. “We stand with other Lehigh Valley reporters and news outlets in support of this motion and are grateful for the advocacy and substantial legal resources the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is dedicating to this.”

Update:

• On Nov. 7, 2025, Judge Thomas Capehart ordered the unsealing case to be transferred to criminal court.
• On Nov. 25, 2025, Judge Thomas Caffrey ordered the unsealing of all of the dockets, saying that they should have been made public weeks earlier.

Filings:

2025-10-29: Emergency petition to intervene and unseal

2025-11-25: Order