A 42-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to trafficking fentanyl in a case involving a traffic stop in Ledyard on April 26, 2017.

Juan Hazard, also known as "Money," of Cranston, R.I., pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. He faces a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence, and up to 40 years, when he is sentenced Dec. 10 by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford.

According to the office of United State's Attorney John H. Durham, Hazard had agreed to meet an individual at a location in Ledyard to conduct a narcotics transaction. Investigators stopped his car, and he was arrested after investigators located a wooden box containing three shrink-wrapped packages containing a total of approximately 338 grams of fentanyl in the rear of the vehicle. Hazard's young child was in the back seat of the car at the time of the offense.

He has been incarcerated since his federal arrest on May 4, 2018.

The investigation has been conducted by the FBI and the Ledyard, Groton Town and Waterford police departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Stolfi Collins.