A Meridian man charged with drug trafficking pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday.

Kenneth Dewayne Williams, 45, entered the plea before Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III to possession with intent to distribute 500 grams of a detectible amount of cocaine hydrochloride, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge J. Derryle Smith.

The case is the result of an investigation dubbed Operation “Deadly Dose” which began as an initiative targeting illegal narcotics distribution in central Mississippi involving the distribution of heroin and cocaine, the release said.

During the investigation, agents learned of an upcoming cocaine transaction between Williams and a coconspirator. Agents conducted a traffic stop on Dec. 4, 2017 of Williams on Interstate 20 east of Jackson, where agents seized approximately two kilograms of cocaine and $17,000.

Williams will be sentenced on June 28 and faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine, followed by a term of supervised release of at least four years.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office, the Jackson Police Department, and the Internal Revenue Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Chris Wansley.