A Newport man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiring to distribute more than a kilogram of heroin on Monday.

According to a press release from Acting United States Attorney Richard W. Murphy, 52-year-old Todd Shorey was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from the Maine State Police. He was investigated and prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s Strategy to Combat the Opioid Epidemic.

The press release states that between May 2015 and January 2016, Shorey conspired with Jamie Akerson and others to distribute over a kilogram of heroin. Shorey, Akerson and others obtained large amounts of heroin on a weekly basis from an out-of-state source and had it distributed throughout central Maine. Jamie Akerson pleaded guilty to the same charge on April 14, 2017.

The charge carries a sentence of between 10 years and life in prison, an $8,000,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release.