A Bowling Green man entered guilty pleas Monday in two federal drug cases, including one that involved the seizure of 40 pounds of methamphetamine.

Nathan L. Jackson, 49, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to possess more than 500 grams of meth with the intent to distribute.

He was one of eight people to have been accused of involvement in a conspiracy that entailed bringing large quantities of methamphetamine into Bowling Green, authorities said.

A plea agreement said Jackson conspired with Tyrecus Crowe, Andre Graham, Brandon Cherry and others in the meth-dealing scheme, with Jackson ordering meth from Crowe to sell to others and paying Crowe for additional quantities of meth to sell.

The conspiracy is alleged to have occurred between Oct. 1, 2019, and Aug. 30, 2020, and was uncovered by law enforcement after a traffic stop in Texas in 2020, where police seized about 40 pounds of crystal meth from a vehicle that was reportedly bound for Bowling Green after traveling to California.

According to authorities, the driver of the vehicle told law enforcement that Crowe rented the vehicle for the driver to use to travel to California to pick up a shipment of meth, and that Crowe had provided him with cash for the transaction.

Local law enforcement have said this case involves the largest seizure of meth in the history of area drug investigations

A federal grand jury returned indictments against eight men in 2020.

Six of the people charged have pleaded guilty. Crowe and a second co-defendant, Raymond Derousse, have pleaded not guilty, but court records indicate they will change their pleas at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

Jackson pleaded guilty in a separate drug case to charges of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

The charges stemmed from an Oct. 24 incident in which a Lexus SUV driven by Jackson was stopped by the Bowling Green Police Department near Campbell Lane and Smallhouse Road on a traffic violation.

During the traffic stop, Jackson denied consent to search the vehicle, and a narcotics K9 brought to the scene failed to alert to the presence of drugs, according to a criminal complaint.

Police determined, however, that the SUV had been reported stolen, court records said.

“Jackson stated he just started operating the vehicle about two weeks ago and did not know it was stolen,” an affidavit supporting the criminal complaint said.

City police contacted the owner of the vehicle, who gave consent to search it.

During the search, officers found in the center console a digital scale and an empty magnetic box, identified in the affidavit as a common tool used to hide narcotics and other illegal items and placed on the underside of a vehicle.

After removing the radio cover, police found two firearms and package containing 12 small bags totaling nearly three ounces of meth, according to court records.

Jackson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in each case.

He will return to U.S. District Court on June 1 for sentencing.

– Follow courts reporter Justin Story on Twitter @jstorydailynews or visit bgdailynews.com.