BEND — A Culver man was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison Wednesday for conspiring to traffic drugs into Madras, Redmond and surrounding areas, federal officials said.

Law enforcement officials were initially led to Israel Sarabia, 30, when U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Central Oregon Drug Enforcement team officers pulled over a drug courier in Klamath Falls in December 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Oregon said in a news release. Investigators found three packages containing 30,000 counterfeit pills, which later tested positive for fentanyl, in the courier’s car, the office said.

The courier was traveling to Sarabia’s house in Culver, investigators found.

Sarabia had the courier bring him fentanyl from Southern California or Mexico, the office said.

Investigators arrested Sarabia on March 15, 2023, near his home, the office said. Investigators later found 519 grams of methamphetamine, more than 1,000 fentanyl pills, 41 grams of cocaine and nine firearms at the house of a co-conspirator who was storing drugs for Sarabia, the office said.

That same day, a Portland grand jury issued a six-count indictment charging Sarabia and an accomplice, the office said. Sarabia pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine.