A man from New London pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to receiving a package full of cocaine in the mail from Puerto Rico and is facing up to 40 years in prison.

Raul Robles, 38, appeared in U.S. District Court in New Haven and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, according to the office of the United States Attorney of the District of Connecticut.

He was charged after the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force in Connecticut intercepted a suspicious package in August 2020 that was destined for a location in Puerto Rico. The package contained $158,900 in cash, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The task force found a connection between the mailed cash and Robles' address and started to monitor his mail, learning that at least 25 parcels had been sent to his home in New London from Puerto Rico in just over a year. Many of the packages were addressed to people who did not live at Robles' address, according to the news release.

A court-authorized search of one of the packages revealed that about 1 kilogram of cocaine had been sent to a fake name at his address. Robles was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on April 9.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 14. He was released from custody on a $50,000 bond.