BANGOR, Maine — A Gardiner man admitted Tuesday in U.S. District Court to robbing a pharmacy in his hometown this summer.
Jesse N. Mansir, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of interference with commerce by robbery.
A sentencing date has not been set.
By pleading guilty, Mansir admitted that on the morning of Aug. 21, he entered the Rite Aid store in Gardiner, approached the pharmacy counter and handed a threatening note to an employee. The pharmacist gave Mansir two bottles of oxycodone, and he fled, according to the prosecution version of events to which he pleaded guilty.
Law enforcement officers located Mansir that evening with the aid of a K-9 and recovered one of the stolen oxycodone bottles. Mansir admitted that he had committed the robbery to feed his opiate addiction, according to the prosecution version of events to which he pleaded guilty. He told investigators he had not carried a gun for the robbery but told the pharmacy technician that he had a gun. Mansir told police that he took the pills to the woods and spent the day getting high.
Mansir faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and could be ordered to pay restitution.
The investigation was conducted by the Gardiner Police Department, the Maine State Police, the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.