Updated

A Florida Panhandle fisherman faces life in prison after finding a bale of cocaine in the Gulf of Mexico and setting up a distribution network to sell the drugs.

Now 32-year-old Thomas Zachary Breeding is warning others not to do what he did. In a letter to the News Herald, (http://bit.ly/2jgzJeB ) Breeding says the decision changed his life and made him aware of the dangers that can be found off shore.

Records show that Breeding and four others were arrested last summer on charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. They were indicted in September and all five pleaded guilty and are set for sentencing on Feb. 16.

Breeding is charged as a felon who was transporting a firearm. He also could be fined up to $4.25 million.

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Information from: The (Panama City, Fla.) News Herald, http://www.newsherald.com