One Dominican man won't be resting easy after admitting in court Wednesday he planned to smuggle roughly more than 6 pounds of cocaine through Newark airport customs inside a neck pillow.

Rafael Francisco Bautista Perdomo, 21, was one of two people arrested at the airport in October after Customs and Border Protection officers found more than 6-1/2 pounds sewn inside each of their respective pillows, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Perdomo, who was represented by the Federal Public Defender's Office, on Wednesday pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to a drug conspiracy charge that carries a potential sentence of up to 40 years in prison and a mandatory minimum of five.

Perdomo and his co-defendant Brenda Mancebo were stopped at baggage screening checkpoints after arriving on a flight from Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, authorities said at the time.

Perdomo, who has been held in federal custody since his arrest, admitted to investigators he had agreed to smuggle the drugs to the U.S. for $10,000, a Homeland Security agent wrote in a criminal complaint.

Court records show Mancebo previously pleaded guilty to the same charge as her co-defendant. Both she and Perdomo are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips