AUGUSTA – A Whitefield man whom a prosecutor called “a relentless drug trafficker” will serve four years in prison for aggravated drug trafficking.

Timothy W. Sounier, 41, who had pleaded guilty, was sentenced Monday in Kennebec County Superior Court. He also pleaded guilty to violating conditions of release and forfeited about $600 in cash.

Lisa Whittier, the attorney who represented Sounier, said Sounier sold about 3.5 grams of cocaine in the incident in West Gardiner on Dec. 22, 2009.

“Two hundred and fifty dollars is what exchanged hands,” she said. “He had never sold large amounts. He was a street runner.”

Sounier, who suffers from health issues, entered his plea sitting in a wheelchair. His sentence is 10 years in prison with all but four years suspended and four years’ probation.

The four years of incarceration imposed by Justice Michaela Murphy are to run concurrently with a sentence for marijuana trafficking. Sounier was found guilty in Androscoggin County of possessing two pounds of marijuana packaged for sale.

Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 20 years in prison with all but 10 years suspended.

“Timothy Sounier is a relentless drug trafficker,” said Kennebec County District Attorney Evert Fowle. “We’ve been prosecuting him for drug trafficking for 20 years.”

Fowle said that Sounier was convicted of a drug transaction in 1993 involving three pounds of hashish, and that other instances over the years involved heroin and cocaine.

Fowle said Sounier has a drug charge pending in York County, and that when the latest offense in Kennebec County occurred, Sounier was on probation for a conviction in Suffolk County, Mass.