BOZEMAN - A Bozeman man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Missoula for his role in a Gallatin County drug ring.

Jose Rodriguez-Murillo is to be sentenced Oct. 22 on a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He entered his plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, and remains in jail.

He is the third of three men arrested in April and charged with trafficking cocaine in Gallatin County. All have entered guilty pleas in federal court.

U.S. Attorney William Mercer says that, during a two-year investigation, investigators watched several individuals and used informants to make "multiple controlled purchases of cocaine" between March 2008 and March 2009.

He says law enforcement officers either bought or seized more than 845 grams of cocaine.

Rodriguez-Murillo faces a maximum of 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine.

Two other Bozeman defendants, 30-year-old Juan Vargas Floras and 32-year-old Miguel Santos-Mijangos, entered guilty pleas earlier and await sentencing.