COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A man who admitted to laundering proceeds from illegal drug sales through Columbus cell phone store fronts has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison.

Cruz Albert Perez-Nunez was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison on charges of money laundering and conspiring to possess, with the intent to distribute, at least one kilogram of heroin. In October, he pleaded guilty to the charges, admitting to organizing teams of drug dealers and laundering $44 million in drug proceeds to Mexico.

According to court documents, 36-year-old Perez-Nunez oversaw a team of heroin dealers in central Ohio in 2018. He coordinated with the owners of Los Rosales on Shady Lane Road, Los Rosales 2 on East Main Street and Express Cellular on Eastland Square Drive to send bulk money transfers — the drug proceeds — to lists of names in Mexico. The stores sold few, if any, phones and conducted little legitimate business, prosecutors previously said.

Perez-Nunez is one of nine people federally convicted in the scheme. The other eight defendants, who were sentenced in 2020 and 2021, received between five and 18 years in prison.