KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A former Kansas postal worker was sentenced Tuesday to five years on federal probation for smuggling marijuana through the mail, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Terrell Dewayne Shears, 25, Overland Park, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

In his plea, he admitted he gave addresses on his route to marijuana traffickers in Arizona. The traffickers mailed parcels containing marijuana to addresses on his route and Shears intercepted the packages. Shears dropped the packages off at an apartment building where he had been instructed to leave them and texted a recipient he knew only as “John” to pick them up.

Investigators seized more than 40 pounds of marijuana from his postal vehicle.