Last Friday, a jury found that 21-year-old Hector Gomez of New York was guilty of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a felony.

On April 18, State Troopers stopped Gomez in Bethlehem as he was traveling north on Interstate 87, according to a release from the Albany County District Attorney’s Office; they smelled marijuana, which Gomez said he’d smoked earlier in the day. Troopers uncovered a secret compartment that had been installed in Gomez’s vehicle that had over 2,000 bags of heroin valued at about $20,000.

Gomez faces nine years in state prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 22.

Judge Peter A. Lynch presided over the trial in Albany County Court and Assistant District Attorney Alexander Scher of the Street Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.