A Seven Fields man has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in June on federal drug and firearms charges that were filed following a November 2022 traffic stop in Allegheny County.

Durrell Fortson, 45, pleaded guilty Friday, Feb. 2 in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to one count of possession with intent to distribute a quantity of a mixture and substance containing cocaine and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of that drug trafficking crime before Judge William S. Stickman.

During a Nov. 16, 2022, traffic stop, a K-9 conducted an exterior sniff of the vehicle Fortson was driving and alerted an officer to the presence of controlled substances, according to U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan.

After obtaining a search warrant for the vehicle, officers seized an air mattress box found in the trunk containing two gallon-sized bags of cocaine, a bag from the back seat area that contained two kilogram wrappers with cocaine residue, a digital scale from the back seat area and a loaded .40-caliber handgun from underneath the driver’s seat, according to Olshan. The gun had been reported stolen, he added.

Sentencing has been scheduled for June 11. The maximum penalty for the drug charge is a term of imprisonment of up to 20 years and a $1 million fine. The maximum total penalty for the firearm charge is a term of not less than five years and up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The indictment notes that Fortson had been convicted of prohibited possession of a firearm in April 2015 in Beaver County, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver in December 2005 in Allegheny County and in July 2005 in federal court of conspiracy to distribute with intent to deliver one kilogram or more of heroin and possession of a firearm.