A federal judge yesterday sentenced a New Jersey man described by prosecutors as the ringleader of an operation that sold steroids to athletes and bodybuilders nationwide to two years in prison.

“You are a drug dealer,” U.S. District Judge William E. Smith said. “To call it something else is just to gloss it over.”

Daniel McGlone had earlier pleaded guilty to his role in a wide-ranging scheme to distribute steroids and human growth hormones to customers who ordered the drugs over the Internet or from ads in body-building magazines.

Before being sentenced, he apologized to his daughter and those he sold the drugs to in a statement read by his lawyer, Robert Mann.

Prosecutors say McGlone made more than $860,000 from steroid and HGH sales arranged from 2003 to 2006 through American Pharmaceutical Group, a business he operated from his New Brunswick, N.J., home.

Under the scheme, he would solicit prescriptions from doctors, including two sentenced in 2007 for their roles. One, Ana Maria Santi, of Queens, N.Y., had prescribed 84,000 doses of steroids and HGH to 400 customers of pharmaceutical sales companies, including McGlone’s, prosecutors said. McGlone would then forward those prescriptions to compounding pharmacies, which would deliver the drugs to customers throughout the country, including Rhode Island.

One of his customers was James Proulx, a former corrections officer who had been prescribed muscle-enhancing drugs in the months before he punched state Trooper Brendan R. Doyle in the face, nearly killing him, Assistant U.S. Attorney Adi Goldstein said. A side effect of the drugs can be rage and increased aggression.

Proulx is expected to be tried later this month for allegedly assaulting Doyle. Proulx is the only end-user identified by the government.

Goldstein asked Smith to sentence McGlone to 2 to 2½ years in prison to deter others from engaging in the “growing problem” of illegal drug sales over the Internet.

His lawyer asked for leniency given McGlone’s clean criminal history and cooperation with investigators since his arrest in 2007.

McGlone faced up to 57 months in prison for 50 counts, including criminal conspiracy distributing controlled substances, health care fraud and money laundering.

Smith said he would accept the prosecutor’s suggested sentence.

In addition to the two-year sentence, Smith placed McGlone on two years supervision after his release and ordered him to reimburse Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island $19,000 for fake prescriptions it covered. He also must forfeit $736,298 to the government.

He will voluntarily surrender to serve his term Feb. 9.

kmulvane@projo.com