Woman sentenced in oxycodone case

BANGOR – An Old Town woman was sentenced on Wednesday to nearly 31/2 years in federal prison for her involvement with a drug distribution ring allegedly led by a member of the Hell’s Angels.

Pamela Paradis, 50, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Bangor to 41 months in prison and three years of probation.

Paradis pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone. She was indicted in September 2003 along with co-defendants William Leland, 48, of Alton and Robert Stewart, 44, of Warren.

Paradis provided Leland with the oxycodone pills obtained with a prescription, and Stewart supplied him with cocaine, according to court documents.

Paradis, who was prescribed the painkiller after a work-related injury, sold the pills to Leland between January and December 2002, according to court documents. Each month, Leland paid her about $8,000 for about 100 pills.

The federal sentencing guidelines required that she be sentenced to between 37 and 46 months, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Perry said Thursday.

Paradis was sentenced to an extra seven months in prison after she admitted to perjuring herself at Leland’s detention hearing held shortly after his arrest in April 2003.

Leland pleaded guilty in January 2003 to drug charges, but earlier this year filed a motion to withdraw his plea. A hearing on that motion is scheduled to be held next week in federal court in Bangor.

Stewart was sentenced in April to eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty to illegal drug possession, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and five counts of possession of cocaine.