(AP) — A 57-year-old Arizona man has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in federal prison for hauling more than a ton of marijuana across Nebraska.

James Valimont, of Glendale, Ariz., was sentenced Friday in Omaha’s federal court.

Valimont pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than 50 kilograms of marijuana.

Valimont told officials he believed he was being paid $3,000 to haul furniture to Iowa, but he began to suspect something criminal when he noticed people following him. It made him uneasy, he said.

A Nebraska state trooper stopped Valimont along Interstate 80 on Nov. 18, 2012, in York County, and search of the truck turned up 101 bundles of marijuana weighing 2,396 pounds and valued at more than $2 million.