PARIS — State prosecutors have recommended a four-year prison sentence for an Albany Township man who pleaded guilty Wednesday for his part in a countywide ring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine. 

Rodney J. Levesque, 35, appeared in handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit in Oxford County Superior Court to withdraw his not guilty plea to charges stemming from his involvement in manufacturing and trafficking the highly addictive stimulant.

Levesque has been incarcerated in Androscoggin County Jail since August, when he was arrested on a charge of attacking a confidential informant who bought methamphetamine from Levesque in the lead-up to a police sting last February.

In a deal with prosecutors, Levesque pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony counts of unlawful furnishing of scheduled drugs, unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs and assault.

Assistant Attorney General David Fisher has recommended an eight-year prison sentence, with all but four years suspended, to run concurrent with a five-year prison sentence, with all but four years suspended, for the first two counts. 

The deal is pending a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 12. 

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped three additional counts of trafficking in scheduled drugs. 

Had the case gone to trial, Fisher said witnesses would have testified that on Dec. 20 and 23, 2013, an informant for the state made a controlled purchase of meth from Levesque in Greenwood. Levesque and seven others were arrested by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency on Feb. 7, as agents dismantled five meth labs and made arrests across Oxford County. The arrests followed a three-month investigation.  

Levesque was taught how to cook meth from the operation’s ringleader, David Thompson of Gilead, according to a police affidavit. 

ccrosby@sunjournal.com