BANGOR – A Bass Harbor man was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to 12 1/2 years in prison for his role in a heroin ring that operated in Hancock County five years ago.

David C. Faulkingham Jr., 37, also was sentenced to three years of probation after his release. He pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin.

Agents with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency arrested Faulkingham in August 2000. His case moved slowly because of a three-year court challenge that included a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to consider the case.

He also was a fugitive for 18 months after he did not show up for a bail revocation hearing in the summer of 2002. Faulkingham was captured in March 2003 in Lamoine after he was spotted driving on Route 1 by Hancock County sheriff’s deputies. He has been detained in the Penobscot County and Cumberland County jails and state facilities since then.

Last year, Faulkingham filed eight lawsuits in federal court over conditions in the jails and at Department of Corrections facilities regarding the medical treatment he has received while incarcerated and on other matters. Three of the cases are still pending, and federal judges ruled against Faulkingham on the others.

He appeared Tuesday before U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock with his right arm in a sling. Faulkingham told the judge that he was awaiting surgery on his shoulder for an injury he suffered while in jail.

Faulkingham was arrested with four other people on Aug. 3, 2000, after a sweep of his Tremont home by Maine drug enforcement agents. Agents found more than 1,000 bags of heroin there with an estimated street value of $35,000.

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.

While Faulkingham’s case has been pending, his codefendants have completed their jail and prison sentences.

Mark A. Power, 30, was sentenced to three years in prison. Most of the heroin recovered was found at his Tremont home.

Brennan Spofford, 25, formerly of Southwest Harbor, was sentenced to four months in prison and four months of home confinement. Jody Silk, 25, formerly of Northeast Harbor, was sentenced to two months in jail for misdemeanor possession of heroin.