D.A.: Montco man trafficked heroin along East Coast
An East Norriton man suspected of being a major East Coast heroin distributor faces drug and conspiracy charges after police found him with nearly $1 million worth of the drug during a traffic stop last month, authorities announced Wednesday.
The heroin seized during a traffic stop in King of Prussia last month represented one of the largest drug seizures in Montgomery County history, authorities said.
And they found it in an unlikely place: a car battery.
But the three kilograms allegedly stashed in David Pacheco's battery were just a fraction of the drugs officials say he transported and delivered for distribution along the East Coast.
At a news conference Wednesday, District Attorney Kevin Steele said Pacheco, 44, of East Norriton, traveled often to Georgia to swap his car battery for one manufactured in Mexico - and specially fitted with an extra compartment to hide the heroin.
Pacheco would then return to his Norristown towing business, police said, and transfer the battery - still functioning - to another car before delivering it to large-scale heroin suppliers in New York.
After a nine-month investigation, officers arrested Pacheco last month at the King of Prussia toll plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. He was arraigned Wednesday on charges including conspiracy and multiple drug felonies.
His attorney, Brooks Thompson, said Pacheco will fight the charges.
Steele said detectives, using video and phone surveillance, documented nine trips Pacheco had made since September to conduct his drug trade. All told, he trafficked 27 kilograms, or about $9 million worth, of heroin, the prosecutor said.
"Heroin's cheap and it's deadly," Steele said. "We've severed an artery in a significant heroin trafficking organization."
The district attorney did not offer details about the scope of the alleged organization or who controlled it, except to say prosecutors in New York and Georgia will charge others.
Pacheco had been held at the Montgomery County prison since his arrest last month, with bail set at $1 million. At his arraignment Wednesday afternoon, Steele asked District Justice James P. Gallagher to increase bail to $9 million - the value of the allegedly trafficked heroin - arguing that Pacheco could be a flight risk.
Thompson objected. He noted that Pacheco, a legal immigrant from Mexico, has lived in the area since 1989, and has a wife and two young children. He also had the business, D&J Towing on Marshall Street, which has since closed.
Gallagher granted the prosecutor's request. "I even considered whether or not bail should even be set in this matter," he said.
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