NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A 49-year-old man who brought around 2 kilograms of fentanyl into Norfolk has been sentenced to five years in prison.

The Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that Howard G. Harris (a.k.a. Christopher Wilson) was sentenced on Friday by Judge Mary Jane Hall.

“Howard Harris was no street-level dealer. He imported nearly two kilos of deadly, addictive fentanyl into Norfolk and, but for quality police work, would have injected those drugs into our community,” said Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Mr. Harris will serve a sentence that fits with the potentially deadly nature of his crime, and we will continue to work to hold high-level dealers accountable.”

Prosecutors say sentencing guidelines recommended one year and seven months in prison at the high end for Harris, but Hall accepted the commonwealth’s higher recommendation of five years due to the significant amount of fentanyl imported.

Hall did suspend 10 years of prison time on a charge of possession with the intent to distribute, conditioned on the completion of five years supervised probation after release.

Wilson was arrested back on Dec. 3, 2021, after he tried to sell the drugs to an undercover detective at the Walmart on Tidewater Drive.

Harris drove the drugs in a backpack to Norfolk from the Baltimore area, investigators determined based on a search warrant of Harris’ cell phone data. Wilson said he got the drugs from a man from New York, and thought it was cocaine, not fentanyl.