A 25-year-old California man has avoided spending any more time behind bars after being immediately paroled in connection with a February traffic stop in Jefferson Township that netted state police a kilo of cocaine.

Jonathan Ikechi Ogoemesim, 24, of Palmdale pleaded guilty in Butler County Court on Tuesday to a reduced charge of misdemeanor drug possession.

Ogoemesim and Malachi Void Jr., 54, of Butler were arrested Feb. 17 after a tip led police to pull over the 2014 Dodge Avenger that Void was driving on Route 356.

The tipster, an anonymous caller, advised authorities to be on the lookout for the blue sports car that was headed to Butler with narcotics in it, according to court documents.

A search of the sports car eventually turned up about 2.2 pounds of cocaine in a bag found on the floor of Ogoemesim's seat. He also was carrying $713 in currency, police said.

Void denied the cocaine was his. Ogoemesim refused to talk without an attorney.

Police charged each suspect with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, both felonies, and possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor.

The defendants were set to have pre-trial conferences Tuesday when their attorneys and prosecutor Terri Schultz, a county assistant district attorney, reached a plea deal for each.

Judge Wiliam Shaffer a short time later accepted the deals in which Ogoemesim and Void pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge. In exchange, Schultz withdrew the felonies.

Void, who had a previous criminal record, was sentenced to time served to 12 months in the Butler Country Prison. His accomplice, who had no prior record, was sentenced to time served to 6 months in prison.

The plea deals called for each defendant to be immediately paroled. Ogoemesim also agreed not to contest the money that police seized from him.

Void, a divorced father of five children and a disabled Navy veteran, will be sentenced Aug. 18. He has been free on $50,000 bail since May 2.

Because Ogoemesim lives across the country, Shaffer agreed to sentence him Tuesday. He had been in the county prison on $100,000 bail since his arrest.

“He'll be going home today or tomorrow,” Misko said following the court proceedings. “We're pleased about that.”

Misko declined to speculate about what led to the hastily reached plea deal but he noted that he was prepared to challenge the legality of the traffic stop and the resulting search of the car.

During his preliminary arraignment, Ogoemesim, a single father of a 1-year-old child, said he moved from Georgia in January to California, where he worked as an Uber driver.

He claimed he traveled east to visit family in New Jersey. It was not known how he ended up with Void in the Dodge Avenger owned by Void's son.

Void's attorney, public defender Joe Smith, declined comment until after his client is sentenced.

Schultz did not immediately return a telephone call Tuesday.