A Lynchburg man arrested this spring after Virginia State Police found almost nine pounds of marijuana in his car trunk was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday.

Courtney Christopher Brown, 33, pleaded guilty in Lynchburg Circuit Court to intending to distribute the drugs and transporting more than five pounds into the state.

On April 26, state police got a call that a suspicious package - thought to contain illegal drugs - was scheduled to arrive at the UPS store on Woodall Road in Lynchburg, Lynchburg Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Chuck Felmlee said on Tuesday.

After a drug dog alerted police that the package might contain drugs, police requested a search warrant, opened the package and found marijuana, Felmlee said.

With the package resealed, a state police officer dressed like a UPS delivery driver and dropped the package off at a house on Scott Street in Lynchburg, Felmlee said.

Police also set up surveillance on the house.

Roughly 20 minutes after the delivery, a vehicle pulled into the home's driveway and Brown got out of the car and took the package from the home's porch, Felmlee said.

As the car pulled away from the house, police stopped it and arrested Brown and a female passenger, Shelia Andrea Charlton, 31.

Police then searched the car, recovered the drugs and found several cell phones, which were used to make multiple calls to the UPS store inquiring about the package that day, Felmlee said.

The house the drugs were delivered to was a decoy and the owner had no idea about the delivery, Felmlee said.

In June, a judge in Campbell County sentenced Brown to five years in prison after he was convicted of a separate incident of having drugs delivered through the mail. He was out on bond in April when he was arrested in Lynchburg.

Charlton, Brown's co-defendant in the Lynchburg case, is scheduled for a jury trial on Sept. 24.