FARGO (AP) - A man who once saved two children from a burning mobile home has been sentenced to 10 years and four months in prison on drug charges.

U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson sentenced 36-year-old James Thomas Heley on Thursday.

Heley faced between 20 years and life in prison after pleading guilty Nov. 10 for conspiracy to sell meth, cocaine and marijuana.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Myers recommended that Heley receive 13 years and four months after cooperating with federal investigators.

The Fargo man's attorney, Brian Nelson, asked the judge to be realistic in sentencing his client. He said the same charge in state court would yield a sentence one-third of the recommendation.

"There's an awful lot of good in this young man," Nelson said.

Nelson recommended the judge order Heley to serve 72 months in prison.

"I find some real attraction in Mr. Nelson's argument," Erickson said. But he noted that Heley previously had been convicted for selling drugs in Minnesota and prison time didn't modify his behavior when he was released.

On Sept. 4, 2003, Heley broke down the door to a neighboring Moorhead, Minn., mobile home and rescued two boys, ages 3 and 2 at the time. The children's parents also escaped the home, which was destroyed by a fire caused by a smoldering mattress.