A late-night car stop in Bucks County led investigators to $4 million in drugs headed to New York
Christian Ochoa and Edith Rodriguez Cardenas are accused of trafficking the drugs from California to New York City.
Bedminster Township police officer James Zuckow was on patrol late Jan. 29 when he saw a Jeep swerving recklessly, investigators said Thursday. He had no idea that this routine car stop would lead county investigators to a massive cache of heroin and fentanyl being trafficked across the country.
The car’s driver, Christian Ochoa, 28, and his passenger, Edith Rodriguez Cardenas, 27, now face felony drug offenses after Bucks County detectives found several kilos of the powerful narcotics in the vehicle, as well as a second stash inside a tractor-trailer that Ochoa owns.
Between the two vehicles, investigators estimate the value of nearly 20 kilos (about 40 pounds) of drugs at about $4 million.
Ochoa, a Texas resident, and Rodriguez Cardenas, who lives in California, were stopped as they were transporting the drugs to New York City for a larger drug organization, Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said Thursday.
“I am really pleased and proud to say thank you to the law enforcement agencies who collaborated on this bust,” Weintraub said. “Because of them, so many people’s loved ones were spared from these deadly drugs.”
Both suspects remained in custody Thursday, in lieu of $100,000 bail, court records show. There was no indication either had hired an attorney.
During the initial traffic stop in Bedminster, Ochoa told officers he works as a truck driver, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. Investigators later learned that Ochoa had a tractor-trailer registered in his name out of California, and traced the vehicle to the Trexler Truck Stop in Upper Macungie Township, a suburb of Allentown.
At the truck stop, a K-9 officer found evidence of drugs, and police obtained a search warrant, investigators said. Detectives searched the truck Wednesday and found heroin and fentanyl, as well as hundreds of Xanax and Percocet pills. They also found votive candles bearing the likeness of Jesus Malverde — a folk hero known as the “patron saint of narcos,” according to Weintraub.
The size of the drug operation the two allegedly worked for was unclear Thursday. Weintraub said local authorities will investigate further in collaboration with Homeland Security through the Liberty Mid-Atlantic High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
The drugs were likely not intended to remain in Bucks County, he said, and that the two simply got caught passing through.