Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced Jesse Newton, 30, of Waldo, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr., to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release for being a felon in possession of a firearm and two years in prison, consecutively, for violating conditions of his supervised release. The defendant pleaded guilty on July 7, 2017.
Court records reveal that on July 13, 2016, U.S. Probation Officers and investigators from the Office of the Maine State Fire Marshal searched Newton’s residence and seized a loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol, 9mm casings, rifle stocks, 46 marijuana plants and a cell phone. Newton possessed the firearm in connection with his marijuana grow operation. At the time of the search, Newton was on supervised release for a 2013 felony firearms conviction that prohibited him from violating federal or state law. Investigators later learned that Newton possessed ten other firearms.
In imposing the maximum available sentence, Judge Woodcock noted the defendant’s threats to kill a police officer, his causing injury to a cooperating witness, his use of a firearm in connection with marijuana cultivation, his failure to accept responsibility for his crimes and his lengthy criminal history which included attacks on the homes of two police officers. Judge Woodcock said he found Newton’s behavior appalling and noted this was “the first time I’ve ever seen a defendant go after a police officer’s house." Newton had convictions for four assaults, terrorizing, criminal use of explosives, criminal threatening, criminal mischief, harassment, disorderly conduct, refusing to submit to arrest and obstruction of reporting of a crime.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Probation Office; the Office of the Maine State Fire Marshal; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office; the Belfast Police Department and the Maine Forest Service.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
