A man whose attempts to peddle stolen guns door-to-door in his Roanoke neighborhood tipped police to a network of heroin and weapons sellers pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal firearms violations.

Brett Aaron Green, 34, was in U.S. District Court in Roanoke to plead guilty to two charges of unlawfully possessing and disposing of stolen guns. U.S. District Court Judge James Turk set sentencing for Feb. 26.

Green, his girlfriend Brittany Michele "Star" Nicely, and five others were indicted in July on a variety of charges linked to stolen firearms and distribution of what Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Wolthuis described as tens of thousands of bags of heroin in Roanoke, Salem, Vinton and Bedford.

Wolthuis said Wednesday that Green told investigators he was a heroin user when he broke into a house in his Preston Park neighborhood. He and Nicely were surprised to find the unoccupied house filled with weapons. Police later determined that more than 2,500 firearms were stored there, Wolthuis said.

At an earlier hearing, investigators said the guns were a private, legally acquired collection.

Green and Nicely took dozens of guns to Green's house and began trying to find buyers. Among those they contacted were heroin traffickers, investigators said.

In June, a police informant negotiated a sale of two guns for $600, then arranged to buy the rest of the firearms Green had in his residence for $3,200, Wolthuis said.

Before that sale was finalized, police moved in and seized the guns.

Green immediately cooperated with investigators, who were able to retrieve all the weapons he described, Wolthuis said.

Also indicted in the case are Nicely and Michael Stephen Abbott, both accused of firearms offenses; James Ray Johnson Jr., charged with heroin distribution; and Larry Allen Perdue Jr., Kyle William Dooley and Matthew Clarke Davis, all charged with heroin distribution and weapons violations.