EAST LONGMEADOW -- A local man was charged with unlawful marijuana distribution after law enforcement raided four area buildings and found more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana in them.

John Americo Pereira, 33, was charged with possession with intent to distribute in U.S. District Court in Springfield on Monday. He will be held in jail pending a detention hearing, said Christina DiLorio-Sterling, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.

Law enforcement agents have been investigating Pereira and several other people since January 2018 in a suspected marijuana distribution ring, she said.

On Friday, FBI agents and other law enforcement officials received a search warrant and raided a total of four buildings in Springfield, Ellington, Connecticut and two in East Longmeadow, she said.

In Pereira's East Longmeadow home agents found 260 pounds of what is believed to be marijuana and about $688,000 in a safe. They did not give the address of his home.

On Friday multiple law enforcement were seen in and around a home at 4 Princeton St. About a dozen vehicles, most of them unmarked were outside the house all morning. Marked vehicles included one with "SHERIFF" on it and a State Police cruiser.

FBI agents, state troopers and other law enforcement were seen walking in and out of the house. Cardboard boxes were marked DEA or Drug Enforcement Agency.

If convicted, Pereira faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of $1 million, DiLorio-Sterling said.

The announcement of the arrest was made by Lelling; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Office; Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Peter C. Fitzhugh, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, she said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil L. Desroches of Lelling’s Springfield Branch Office and Trial Attorney Marianne Shelvey, of the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Organized Crime and Gang Section, are prosecuting the case.