SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — A 22-year-old from Bakersfield, California, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for possessing over 65,000 fentanyl pills with an intent to distribute them.

For his guilty plea, Jose Orozco Acosta admitted on April 4, 2022, that he travelled from Bakersfield to a storage unit in Syracuse.

“Acosta transferred the contents of his storage unit, which included a black plastic tote, to a different storage unit in the city of Syracuse. The black plastic tote that Acosta transported contained over 65,000 fentanyl pills, weighing approximately 7.2 kilograms,” said the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Their investigation exposed that Acosta was taking fentanyl and other narcotics from his home in Bakersfield to local drug dealers in the Central New York area.

This led to the arrest of many of the dealers that Acosta was supplying. The dealers were arrested in August of 2022, and authorities called it “the largest drug seizure in Cayuga County in over 10 years.”

Chief United States District Judge Brenda K. Sannes in Syracuse, also ordered that Acosta serve a 5-year term of supervised release following his release from prison.

NYSP Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team (NYSP-VGNET) and DEA Resident Offices in Syracuse, New York and Bakersfield, California investigated the case with assistance from the Finger Lakes Drug Task Force, Auburn Police Department, Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office, United States Marshal Service, United States Army National Guard Counterdrug Program, Cayuga County District Attorney’s Office, Cortland City Police Department, Bakersfield Police Department, Kern County Sheriff’s Office, and Kern County Probation Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica N. Carbone prosecuted the case.