PORTLAND – Bates College professor Linda Williams appeared shocked Monday when a federal judge ordered her jailed until she is sentenced for dealing drugs in the Lewiston area.

The 50-year-old professor pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Monday afternoon to a charge of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.

In all likelihood, Williams will be ordered to spend at least 10 years in a federal prison after admitting to the charge.

By federal statute, the conspiracy charge carries a penalty of 10 years to life behind bars, although the presiding judge can depart from the sentencing guidelines at his discretion.

Williams appeared composed throughout the hearing, responding to Chief District Judge George Z. Singal’s questions with brief answers and a firm voice.

However, when Singal ruled that Williams is to be held in federal custody until a sentencing hearing possibly months away, the professor looked stunned. She gaped at her attorney, David Van Dyke and then stared in confusion at the U.S. marshal taking her into custody.

Williams was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, not looking at the two colleagues who had come to support her at Monday’s hearing. She will be held at a federal section of the Cumberland County Jail in Portland until sentencing.

After accepting Williams’ plea, Judge Singal ordered a pre-sentencing report on the convicted crack dealer. That normally takes between eight and 10 weeks.

At Monday’s hearing, Williams admitted that, from her Bardwell Street home in Lewiston, she helped three Jamaican men deal crack cocaine in that city and in the Augusta area.

Police said that during their investigation, they sent an informant to Williams’ home wearing body wires to record drug transactions. Police said that twice, the professor sold the informant crack after producing the drug from under a kitchen counter.

Investigators said Williams was paid rent in cocaine when she allowed two men to stay at her home and that she hosted at least one barbecue party, during which crack was cooked on her kitchen stove.

“There are a number of people who would have come forward to testify against her at trial,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Toof said after the hearing on Monday.

Instead, Williams gambled that by pleading guilty, she will be sentenced to less than the 60 years she faced if convicted at trial.

Still, when Singal asked Williams pointedly if she was guilty of the crime of possession with intent to distribute crack, she hesitated. Williams glanced at her lawyer and did not answer for five seconds. Finally, she admitted her guilt by answering “yes” and then answered further questions about her plea.

Williams pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute 50 or more grams of crack cocaine. In exchange, prosecutors dropped two counts of distributing crack.

Drug agents say Williams was part of a Jamaican cocaine trafficking network that spreads along the entire East Coast of the United States. Investigators say Williams was involved in the crack network between June of 2002 until she was arrested this year.

On the night of April 11 police and drug agents raided Williams’ house after learning she was about to conduct a $1,000 cocaine deal with one of three informants investigators had been using in the case, according to court documents.

A music professor at Bates since 1996, Williams was scheduled to leave for South Africa to research a book when she was arrested. The professor spent little time locked up after she was taken into custody April – she made bail three days after she was arrested in April.

Williams’ lawyer on Monday requested that she be allowed to remain free until her sentencing. Toof asked that Williams be held without bail.

“I had no expectation one way or another,” Toof said after the hearing.

While sitting in jail awaiting her next hearing, Williams will continue collecting a paycheck from Bates College, according to a school spokesman.

Williams has been on administrative leave with pay since her arrest while Bates officials waited to learn the outcome of the case against her. Williams’ guilty plea on Monday did not change that arrangement.

“Because the legal case is not closed until final judgment, the school will continue to monitor it,” said Director of College Relations Bryan McNulty.

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