A 21-year-old man from State College has been sentenced to two to five years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of possession and distribution of heroin.

According to the Centre County District Attorney’s office, Charles A. Jones was arrested on October 8, 2013 by officers with the Pennsylvania State Police North Central Drug Task Force.

A news release from the DA’s office says members of the Task Force set up a controlled buy and purchased ten bags of heroin from Jones. That sale happened on September 16, 2013 in the Pizza Hut parking lot on South Atherton Street.

On the day of his arrest, Task Force members started surveillance at Jones’ residence where two confidential informants conducted another controlled buy requesting more heroin. Jones and another man were seen leaving the residence with the informants and were followed by police.

Jones was pulled over for speeding on South Atherton Street. When approaching the vehicle, troopers detected a strong odor of marijuana and observed multiple plastic baggies on the passenger side floor.

Upon searching Jones, police found 63 baggies of heroin in the rear pocket of his jeans, as well as a syringe between his buttocks and a small baggie of marijuana in his sock. A search of the passengers and the vehicle yielded 148 heroin baggies, 2.5 pounds of synthetic marijuana, two ounces of marijuana and various drug paraphernalia.

“Preventing this poison from strangling our quality of life remains a top priority,” District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said in a statement. “If you have information regarding illegal drug activity, please contact either the Pennsylvania State Police at 814-342-3370 and / or the Centre County Drug Task Force at 1-877-898-DRUG (3784).”