BANGOR – Technology played a big role during an unusual day at U.S. District Court on Wednesday when a Princeton man became the first convicted felon in the Bangor court to be sentenced via teleconference.

Severe medical problems prevented defendant Russell Fitch, 40, from appearing in the federal courtroom on Harlow Street for his sentencing. So, with the help of digital cameras, high-speed telephone lines and television sets, he was able to remain in a Danvers, Mass., hospital with his attorney, J. Hilary Billings, by his side, while U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal presided in Bangor.

Video teleconferences are on the increase within the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, comprising several New England states and Puerto Rico, according to a court official. They are used mostly for arraignments and for court depositions when it is too inconvenient to bring the defendants to court, but the procedure also can be used for sentencings with the consent of all parties involved.

“Businesses have used it for years. Now the federal system is getting involved,” said a computer expert at the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building.

A former game warden and a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Fitch earlier had pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery and theft of OxyContin from a pharmacy. Hobbs Act robbery is a federal offense carrying stiffer penalties. On April 27, 2001, he aimed an unloaded BB gun at a Rite Aid employee in a Winslow store and demanded OxyContin pills to feed his addiction, which started with a doctor legally prescribing the painkiller.

Fitch was sentenced to 46 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was ordered to make restitution to Rite Aid in the amount of $2,349.98. Confined to a wheelchair, the divorced father of three children will remain in a medical facility to take care of problems that range from kidney failure to severe arthritis and life-threatening infections. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gail Malone prosecuted the case.

The sentencing was the second in a day that illustrated the destructive nature of drug addiction on human lives. Earlier in the day, Singal sentenced Jill Veilleux, 23, of Richmond to 76 months in prison for her role in the Feb. 9, 2001, robbery of OxyContin from a CVS store in Augusta where she worked.

Veilleux earlier pleaded guilty to several counts, and two were dismissed after Wednesday’s sentencing. Technically, she received 20 months in prison on a conviction of armed robbery of a pharmacy and 20 months on a conspiracy conviction to be served concurrently. Veilleux also was ordered to serve an additional 56 months in prison on a conviction of aiding and abetting the use of a firearm during the commission of a federal crime of violence.

Two men involved in the robbery were sentenced in March. Zachary Gagnon, 22, of Augusta, Veilleux’s former boyfriend, was sentenced to 76 months in prison. He reportedly drove the getaway car. His brother, Oscar Gagnon, 23, was sentenced to 79 months in prison for pointing a gun at a pharmacist and demanding all the OxyContin there.

Restitution of $10,305.70 was ordered.

In an emotional two-hour hearing, Veilleux’s father, mother, brother, sister, friends and relatives described her as an exceptionally bright student who had a goal of becoming a nurse. After she met confessed drug dealer Zachary Gagnon, however, she changed, according to courtroom testimony.

Psychologist Charles Robinson said Veilleux had a dependent personality and was involved in a dominant, abusive relationship with Gagnon. Other tendencies toward depression and obvious drug abuse made her vulnerable to Gagnon’s demands, including that she pave the way for the robbery. After the robbery, Veilleux reportedly was evasive with police, telling them she did not know the robber. “She attempted to lead police on a wild goose chase and, to a limited degree, was successful,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney James McCarthy who prosecuted the case for the government.

In court, Veilleux apologized for not admitting her guilt earlier. Drug addiction, including heroin, cocaine and OxyContin use, fueled her actions. “I just didn’t want to get sick,” Veilleux said.

Defense attorney Leonard Sharon said his client had “a life, a family, had never done a thing wrong, had graduated fourth in her class with an idea but with no identity,” and had transformed under Zachary Gagnon’s guidance into “nothing but a zombie,” Sharon said.

Veilleux was a clerk at the CVS store and knew the store had an unusually large order of OxyContin on Feb. 6, 2001, court papers state. The weapon used in the robbery, a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, was found in a snowbank near the Gagnon brothers’ home.