BANGOR – A Tremont boat builder known as a central figure in a Mount Desert Island drug ring was sentenced Wednesday to 37 months in prison.

Mark A. Power, 26, will complete three years of supervised release after his prison term. He had pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute heroin.

The sentencing took place at U.S. District Court in Bangor, with U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal presiding.

A tall man with closely cropped brown hair, Power was led into the courtroom in handcuffs. He has been jailed since earlier this spring when he violated bail conditions after he was discovered to possess the painkiller OxyContin.

Power apologized to his family and friends before the judge levied the sentence. He admitted he had a powerful drug addiction that, he said, turned him into a “liar and a cheat.”

“The drugs made me powerless. With God’s help I hope to turn my life around,” Power told the judge.

Power was arrested with four other people on Aug. 3, 2000, after a sweep of his Tremont home by agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. Agents found 1,000 bags of heroin there with an estimated street value of $35,000.

Jody Silk, 20, of Northeast Harbor was one of the four arrested at Power’s home. She was sentenced earlier this month to two months in jail for misdemeanor possession of heroin. Brennan Spofford, 21, of Southwest Harbor, Jason Moody, 27, of Tremont and Michael Biron, 25, of Salisbury Cove each are charged with misdemeanor heroin possession. Further information on them could not be obtained Wednesday.

The operation provided heroin for more than 60 people and marked the first significant seizure of heroin in Hancock County, according to court documents. The group was part of a bigger ring that had distributed thousands of bags of heroin in Hancock County in early 2000, according to the MDEA.

Power admitted to consuming about 50 packets of heroin a day at the height of his addiction. His key role as a heroin supplier was to feed his drug habit, not to make a profit, according to his attorney, Robert Granger of Bangor.

For the uninitiated, “it’s hard to comprehend what 50 packets of heroin a day can do to a human being,” Singal observed.

The judge noted that Power was known as a skilled craftsman who has the support of his boss and foreman at a Hulls Cove boatyard. “They say they would be delighted to take you back,” Singal said.

The judge said that Power has been enrolled in many drug rehabilitation programs without success and that he has a long history of involvement with crack cocaine, LSD, marijuana and alcohol in addition to cocaine.

“It doesn’t bode well,” Singal said. Still, the judge said he would “listen to” Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Wing and to attorney Granger, who both wanted relatively light sentences for Power.

The Hancock County man took responsibility for his actions “almost from the time of his arrest” and cooperated with authorities, Wing said.

Power’s light criminal record convinced the judge to sentence him at the lower end of the sentence guideline range.

“I’m going to gamble on your future,” Singal said. The judge said he would recommend Power for a 500-hour prison drug treatment program.