FAYETTE COUNTY — A 32-year-old California man was sentenced Tuesday in Fayette County court to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, after he pleaded guilty to the lesser of three heroin-related charges against him.

Raul Perea was arrested in June 2017 after an Illinois State Police trooper stopped him on Interstate 70 in Fayette County.

After receiving consent to search the vehicle, the trooper reportedly discovered several black vacuum sealed bags containing a substance that testing by the Illinois State Police laboratory later revealed in contained heroin.

The total weight of the seized packages was approximately 7.5 kilos with an estimated street value of $455,000.

Perea was taken to the Fayette County Jail with bail set at $500,000.

He was charged with X felony trafficking a controlled substance and Class X felony manufacture with the intent to deliver more than 900 grams of heroin.

He pleaded guilty Tuesday to the Class 1 felony charge in exchange for the other two charges being dismissed.

In addition to the 12 year prison sentence, Perea will have to serve 2-years mandatory supervised release following the completion of that term. He was given credit for 344 days served.