BANGOR – An Alton man continued to claim Thursday that he did not commit the crimes he has been convicted of, even as a federal judge sentenced him to 21 years in prison on drug charges.

William Leland, 49, who has admitted being a member of the Hell’s Angels, told U.S. District Judge John Woodcock that he was a drug addict – but not a drug dealer.

“I am responsible for being a drug addict, and I picked up drugs for friends of mine,” Leland told the court as his family sat behind him. “I’m not responsible for the drugs that others sold. They did that on their own.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Perry, who prosecuted the case, described Leland as “a significant drug dealer” who sold cocaine, oxycodone and methamphetamine in the Old Town area for a significant period of time.

At least half a dozen men and women who admitted either buying drugs from or selling drugs to Leland are in prison, Woodcock said in handing down the sentence.

“As I look at the people’s names that appear connected to you,” the judge said, “every single one of those people is in federal prison. Many are in federal prison for a long time. …

“I believe you were essential in this drug operation,” Woodcock told Leland. “They were all spokes in the wheel, but all roads led to you.”

Woodcock also sentenced Leland to five years of probation after his release. In addition, Leland was ordered to forfeit the 1996 Ford Crown Victoria he was driving when he was arrested and a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

The judge added four years to Leland’s base sentence of 17 years for letters he sent from prison. Woodcock concluded that Leland threatened to harm co-defendant Robert Stewart, 44, of Warren.

Leland also sent to a Hampden man a copy of an extensive report on suspected drug activity that he had received with other documents related to his case. The mailing warned the man that he was under investigation.

Leland faced a maximum sentence of life in prison and fines of up to $4 million, if a jury had convicted him on all counts.

Defense attorney Robert Napolitano of Portland filed a notice of appeal immediately after Woodcock imposed the sentence.

Leland was arrested in April 2003 on a return trip from California while traveling north on Interstate 95 in Pittsfield. He had been under surveillance by law enforcement personnel, including the FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, Maine State Police and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, who alleged that he had been selling drugs in Maine since 1998.

Nearly 2 pounds of methamphetamine were found hidden in the spare tire of his car. He was denied bail and has been held at the Maine State Prison for two years while awaiting the resolution of his case.

Leland pleaded guilty on Jan. 27, 2004, in U.S. District Court in Bangor to seven charges. They included conspiracy with intent to distribute methamphetamine, oxycodone and cocaine, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

When he pleaded guilty last year, Leland signed a plea agreement that included a recommended maximum sentence of 171/2 years in federal prison.

A year later, his former attorney, Christopher Largay of Bangor, filed a motion to withdraw Leland’s guilty plea. Leland alleged that that his now ex-wife, Ganesa Leland, and the police informant with whom she was having an affair framed him.

He also claimed there were inconsistencies in the evidence and the prosecution’s witnesses were unreliable because of their criminal histories.

Woodcock denied the motion in April.

Leland repeated those complaints on Thursday, adding that he signed the plea agreement under duress because his mother was dying and prosecutors “threatened to arrest my son” if he didn’t sign it.

“The last day I saw my mother alive was the day I pleaded guilty,” he said at his sentencing.

Leland also told Woodcock that Largay did not regularly communicate with him, did not file the motion to withdraw the guilty plea until six months after he requested it be filed and did not adequately explain to him the consequences of his pleading guilty.

Woodcock, who last month allowed Largay to withdraw from the case and allowed Napolitano to replace him, disagreed.

“The record I have before me is contrary to that claim,” the judge said Thursday.

U.S. marshals allowed Leland to hug his father, siblings and children before handcuffing him and returning him to the Maine State Prison.

Leland’s brother, Mark Leland, who turned 50 on Thursday, declined to comment on the sentence after the hearing.

Mark Leland and others have maintained that the case against William Leland includes allegations from drug addicts and drug dealers that have not been substantiated with solid evidence.

Mark Leland also has questioned how and why the drugs found in his brother’s car changed color from the time they were found by law officers in Maine and were tested out of state by the FBI.

Napolitano said after the hearing that if he had been Leland’s attorney since his arrest, the case would have gone to trial.

“Two of their key witnesses were dead, and the rest testified in exchange for reduced sentences,” he said. “A jury should have decided this case.”

Napolitano’s appeal is expected to include a demand for a jury trial.