BANGOR – A new father tearfully apologized to his victims Thursday at his sentencing in Penobscot County Superior Court even though they were not there to hear him.

Albert Severance, 24, of Sangerville was sentenced to 18 years in prison with all but eight suspended and six years probation for his part in a home invasion and armed robbery of a LaGrange marijuana dealer last year. Two other men were sentenced earlier this year for their participation in the crime.

The trio entered the LaGrange home of Jeremy and Kristen Hart about 8:45 a.m. Sunday, March 9, 2003, according to court documents. All three wore ski masks over their heads. Severance and another man held the Harts and their two children at gunpoint and demanded money and drugs.

The Harts were not charged in connection with the case.

Severance’s daughter was born on March 16 – one year and one week after the robbery that netted the men $1,000 in cash and two 1-gallon bags filled with marijuana.

“Since having a beautiful daughter of my own, I can’t imagine how it must have felt to be them when we came into that house,” Severance said Thursday. “I feel a lot more responsible since my daughter was born and I am no longer capable of doing something like this.”

Severance also said that he got involved in the plot because he was addicted to drugs, in debt to his dealers and afraid of Walter Cobb, 32, the man sentenced to 25 years for masterminding the plot.

Maine Superior Court Justice Andrew Mead accepted Thursday the sentencing recommendation of Penobscot County Assistant District Attorney Greg Campbell. Mead agreed that Severance’s role in planning and executing the robbery was greater than that of his co-defendant Roderick Cole.

Cole, 24, was sentenced to 16 years in prison with all but five years suspended and six years probation. All three men were ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution payment to the victims.

The plot to rob the Harts was hatched in February 2003 at the Iron Horsemen Motorcycle Clubhouse, according to testimony at Cobb’s trial. Cobb and Severance, who lived downstairs from him in a Sangerville apartment building, recruited Cole, Severance’s roommate, and Cole’s girlfriend, Kathryn “Katie” McCloud Severance.

She drove the three to and from the Harts’ home in her father’s pickup truck the day of the robbery, but was not charged for her role in the robbery.