A 28-year-old man was convicted Wednesday of transporting fentanyl and other drug and firearm offenses, Tulare County prosecutors said.

In Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, prosecutors secured a guilty verdict against Angel Ramiro Pando for transporting about 6,000 counterfeit “M30” fentanyl pills to a UPS store in Visalia.

The shipment was destined for Georgia but was intercepted by the Visalia Police Department’s Narcotics Unit. A fingerprint on one of the packages linked Pando to the drugs.

Investigators later found a marijuana grow containing 350 plants in a mobile home in an unincorporated part of Tulare and discovered a concealed, unregistered, loaded firearm near the steering column of Pando’s vehicle.

Pando was convicted of transporting a controlled substance with special allegations of large quantity, threat of great bodily injury, and being on probation, carrying a loaded handgun and a concealed firearm while on probation, maintaining a place for selling controlled substances, possessing cannabis for sale, and cultivating more than six cannabis plants.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 29,  with Pando facing up to seven years in state prison.

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