TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBS12) — A man tied to a Mexico-based drug trafficking operation will spend the next three decades behind bars after being convicted of bringing large amounts of fentanyl into Florida, state officials said.

The Florida Attorney General’s Office announced on Friday that Cesar Caldera-Garcia, 40, was sentenced to 30 years in state prison after a jury found him guilty on April 22 of trafficking in fentanyl and conspiring to traffic the powerful opioid. Judge Frederick Mercurio handed down the sentence the same day in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit. Under Florida law, both charges carry mandatory minimum sentences of 25 years.

According to investigators, Caldera-Garcia came to Florida as part of a broader effort to expand a drug trafficking organization’s reach into the state. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched an undercover investigation in November 2023 after learning the organization was smuggling fentanyl into the U.S. through the southern border.

During the investigation, the group allegedly agreed to sell more than 10 kilograms of fentanyl powder and about 50,000 fentanyl pills. Authorities say Caldera-Garcia was sent to Florida to set up a local distribution operation, with plans to sell three kilograms of fentanyl powder and 20,000 pills.

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Investigators were able to confirm Caldera-Garcia’s identity using a California driver’s license he obtained. Records also showed he had a prior federal conviction from 2006 for smuggling people into the United States.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested Caldera-Garcia, and the case was later prosecuted by the Office of Statewide Prosecution. Assistant Statewide Prosecutors Paul Thomas and Taryn Vaughn handled the case.

Attorney General James Uthmeier said the sentence sends a clear message about Florida’s stance on fentanyl trafficking, calling the drug deadly and dangerous to communities across the state.

The case was prosecuted in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, closing out a multi-agency investigation aimed at stopping fentanyl before it could reach Florida streets.