A Florida woman found with more than 9 pounds of fentanyl pills during a traffic stop last winter has pleaded guilty to a federal drug possession charge.

Elina Martinez is facing a prison sentence of at least five years and a $5 million fine. The 65-year-old Miami resident pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl before U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara in Buffalo.

Martinez was stopped Dec. 7, 2022, on North Main Street in Jamestown for traffic violations, though her vehicle already was being tracked as part of a larger local narcotics investigation. Martinez gave Jamestown police a Florida driver’s license and car rental paperwork for the vehicle.

After she reportedly consented to a search, police discovered “suspicious powder residue” inside a suitcase. Two K-9 dogs were then brought to the scene, and each alerted to the presence of drugs, U.S. Attorney Trini Ross said in a news release last year.

Officers found a plastic bag of pills “secreted in (the) battery of the car,” the office said. The pills later tested positive for the presence of fentanyl.

Jamestown police first announced the large seizure, noting that about 50,000 to 60,000 fentanyl pills had been recovered in the traffic stop. Police had estimated the street value of the pills at $500,000; however, Ross on Tuesday said the fentanyl — designed to look like an authentic M30 Oxycodone tablet — was worth about $1.3 million.

The Florida woman’s arrest occurred the same day 19 people were identified as allegedly being involved in a “large scale fentanyl and methamphetamine distribution ring” in Jamestown and the town of Ellicott.

Search warrants were served Dec. 7, 2022, at three locations: 628 Spring St. and 15 W. Cowden St. in the city and 252 W. Main St. in the village of Falconer. Members of the Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force, investigators with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office and the Ellicott Police Department assisted in the case.

Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 8 before Arcara.