SYRACUSE, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) — A Utica man faces jail time and millions of dollars in fines after pleading guilty to federal drug charges on Wednesday, November 1.

59-year-old Bernabe Lopez was in federal court on Wednesday to plead guilty to conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl and distribution of Fentanyl, according to United States Attorney Carla Freedman.

In pleading guilty, Lopez admitted that he acquired more than 40 grams of fentanyl from co-conspirators between May of 2020 and October of 2021. He then redistributed the fentanyl to other dealers in the Utica area.

Lopez also admitted that during the conspiracy, he sold a cutting agent to a co-conspirator for $10 a gram knowing that they were adulterating fentanyl with the agent to increase volume for sale.

Lopez faces a minimum of five years in prison, with a maximum possible sentence of 40 years. He also faces a fine of up to $5 million and a term of supervised release of at least four years and up to life.

Lopez is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge David Hurd in the Utica federal courthouse on Thursday, February 29.