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This article appeared in the Phillies Burb on May 15, 2026 date written by Jo Ciavaglia. Click here to read it on the phillyburbs.com site.

Wrong-House Raid: DEA and Police Raided Bucks County Home at Gunpoint

A Lower Makefield family says they were left traumatized two years ago after local and federal law enforcement executed a warrant operation at the wrong home.

Robert McLaughlin alleges he and his family were asleep in their home in the 900 block of Morgan Drive on May 16, 2024 around 4:30 a.m. when authorities broke down their front door and removed them from the house at gunpoint.

Nearly an hour later, though, officers learned that the suspect they were looking for lived at the house across the street from the McLaughlins.

Now the family is suing over the wrong house raid. 

“The allegations in this complaint describe every family’s worst nightmare,” said attorney Brian Fritz, who is representing the family.

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman and Lower Makefield Township Manager David Kratzer declined to comment citing pending litigation.Former Lower Makefield Police Chief Ken Coluzzi, who retired at the end of 2024, did not immediately respond to a request for comment May 14.

Robert McLaughlin alleges he was awakened by the sounds of banging downstairs that was so loud he didn’t bother to get dressed before going to investigate, according to the lawsuit filed May 13 in the U.S. District Court for theEastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

As he neared the bottom of the steps, the banging grew louder and more aggressive, the lawsuit alleges.

Before he could figure out what was happening, McLaughlin heard what sounded like a large blunt object hit the front door, which turned out to be a battering ram, the lawsuit alleges. 

“At that moment, Mr. McLaughlin was immediately overcome with fear and the realization that an intruder was attempting to break into his home,” according to the lawsuit.

He allegedly immediately shouted toward the front door in an attempt to scare off the intruders. 

After repeated blows, the front door was splintered and Robert McLaughlin was immediately met with blinding, bright lights and assault rifles, the lawsuit said. 

He was forcefully pulled from his home by officers who identified themselves as DEA and Lower Makefield police. They handcuffed him and physically restrained him in his front yard.

Officers then allegedly at gunpoint forced McLaughlin’s wife, Christine, the couple’s two children out of the home dressed in underwear and pajamas, and detained them as well.

The chaos awakened neighbors who came outside to see McLaughlin and his family surrounded by heavily armed law enforcement officers, the lawsuit alleges. 

The family alleges they repeatedly identified themselves and the home address during the incident, but officers continued detaining them even after it was made apparent they were not the subject of the warrant operation, which sought aHispanic man, Fritz said. The McLaughlins are not Hispanic.

The family was released after 45 minutes only after a superior officer arrived and admitted that agents entered the wrong home, the lawsuit alleged. 

“At no point did defendants take reasonable steps to confirm that they were at thecorrect location,” Fritz said. “Instead (the McLaughlins), who were law-abiding residents asleep in their own home were subjected to a terrifying and dangerous encounter that should never have occured.”

The lawsuit alleges violations of the Fourth Amendment to the United StatesConstitution and includes claims involving unlawful search and seizure, unlawful detention, false imprisonment, assault, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and failures involving police training, supervision, and warrant execution procedures.

(This story has been updated to add new information.) 

Crime and Courts Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached atjciavaglia@gannett.com

If you or a family member have been the victim of a civil rights violation or personal injury in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, contact Fritz & Bianculli for a free consultation.