Jose F. Espinoza-Medina was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison this week for his role in a 2019 Youngstown-area drug ring.

Espinoza-Medina, 31, pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Judge James Gwin in U.S. District Court, Cleveland, handed down a sentence of 42 months with credit for the time Espinoza-Medina has been detained since September. He also will be on probation three years after leaving prison.

Espinoza-Medina is among five men who prosecutors say distributed cocaine from homes at 4046 Kirk Road in Austintown and 3514 Dover Road in Youngstown in September 2019.

Three other members of the enterprise have already been sentenced to between four years and 14 months in prison.

The judge recommended that Espinoza-Medina also participate in a 500-hour drug treatment program at the federal prison in Milan, Mich., as Espinoza-Medina’s attorney had asked.

Documents in the case state that five members of the organization distributed 41 pounds of cocaine, which was found in the cap on a pickup truck as Espinoza-Medina drove it into Ohio from Indiana Sept. 24, 2019, after federal investigators watched the movements of the men for months.

An Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper stopped the vehicle for a traffic violation, leading to the cocaine being discovered.

Investigators also seized $317,530 in cash from the Dover residence on Sept. 24, 2019, while serving search warrants on the Dover and Kirk Road homes. The cash will be forfeited to the federal government.

A fifth defendant, Jose Guadalupe Vasquez-Rios, 32, was indicted in the case but is still at large. Court documents say Vasquez-Rios owned the Kirk Road home and also was said to live in Campbell.