ELLSWORTH – A man who was found earlier this year with nearly $30,000 worth of heroin at his home was sentenced Friday to serve four years in prison.

Forrest “Randy” McMillan, 51, of Eastbrook had been charged with aggravated trafficking because of the volume of drugs recovered, but he told a judge Friday that he was not dealing heroin.

McMillan explained that he had been taking OxyContin, a powerful prescription narcotic. When that ran out, heroin was the only thing strong enough to feed his addiction.

“It’s hard to describe the sickness that comes when you don’t have it in your system,” he told Justice William Brodrick in Hancock County Superior Court.

Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agents who raided McMillan’s home in rural Hancock County in January found 800 individual bags of heroin.

Two other people, George Taylor of Eastbrook and Jeannie Thurlow of Orono, were at McMillan’s home during the MDEA’s search and also were charged with drug trafficking.

In court Friday, McMillan admitted he had bought what is known as a box of heroin in Massachusetts, but it was meant to supplement his OxyContin addiction and not to be sold.

McMillan’s attorney, Marvin Glazier of Bangor, said no evidence existed to indicate his client was selling heroin.

Justice Brodrick agreed. “It’s a large amount, but there is no evidence of any violence, no guns, nothing like that. There’s nothing that would indicate that [McMillan] was trafficking,” the justice said.

Considering those circumstances, Brodrick said he thought four years was more than enough prison time. McMillan could have received up to 30 years on a charge of aggravated drug trafficking.

McMillan was ordered to start serving his sentence Nov. 30, after Brodrick granted Glazier’s request to delay.