FARMINGTON – A Wilton man received a five-year sentence with all but 15 months suspended on charges of trafficking drugs Friday in Franklin County Superior Court.

Joseph Daoust, 22, was arrested in March 2007 after police searched his Depot Street home and found 3.5 grams of cocaine, scales, a drug ledger and hundreds of baggies with the corners cut consistent with the sale of the drug, Assistant Attorney General David Fisher told the court.

Two days after his home was searched with a warrant, police located Daoust in East Dixfield and stopped his vehicle. During a search of the vehicle, additional drug paraphernalia was found.

After his arrest, Daoust continued to sell drugs, Fisher said. In July, he was charged with conspiracy to commit trafficking when police realized he was making calls from the jail in an attempt to sell drugs to raise bail money.

Asking for a two-year sentence and three years of probation, Fisher said Daoust was dealing with high-potency narcotics and had a lot of customers over the last year.

Daoust apologized to the court, claiming his addiction to drugs was the key. Sober now for the past three months, Daoust said he was voluntarily attending a program to help him remain sober. He claimed medication for a construction-work injury got him hooked and his choices were made by the addiction.

“All I cared about was the next high,” he said. “Sobriety is the key.”

Daoust’s mother told the court that her son was a “good person and a good father.” She asked for a second chance for her son with hopes he would work in the woods with his father.

After serving his 15 months, Daoust was given three years probation and a $500 fine.