HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A Louisa man is the first of 18 defendants to plead guilty, in a case that saw authorities seize more than 50 lbs. of illegal drugs.

Leonard Brandon Joe Rice, 35, pleaded guilty to using a telephone to facilitate a felony drug offense.

In court, Rice admitted to arranging for the purchase of fentanyl back in May. He then drove there, picked up the drugs, and then was pulled over by a Kentucky state trooper as he drove back home.

He later admitted to routinely getting the drugs from his source in Huntington and distributing them around Louisa for about a year and a half.

The resulting investigation led police to seize more than 50 pounds of drugs, almost all of it fentanyl.

Rice now faces up to four years in prison when he is sentenced in January.