YOUNGSTOWN - A Cortland man has been sentenced after pleading guilty to federal charges after investigators say he received a more than two-pound shipment of a powerful opiate shipped to a Warren home.

Michael Ellens Jr., 44, appeared in U.S. District Court on Tuesday where he was handed an eight-year prison term.

Ellens pleaded guilty in August to attempted possession with attempting to distribute fentanyl and cocaine. 

Federal investigators say a bubble-wrapped package sealed in several layers of vacuum-sealed bags was shipped to a Randolph St. NW home in Warren in April. A woman then delivered the package to a Briar Street SE home where Ellens was arrested.

Ellens didn’t know that Canfield Police K9 “Nix” had already helped federal authorities determine that the package had been shipped from California containing 1,000 grams of fentanyl.

The DEA says fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 80-100 times stronger than morphine and many people who buy it as a street drug believe that they are purchasing heroin, which often results in overdose deaths.

According to an affidavit, Ellens told authorities that the package belonged to him.