BANGOR, Maine — A 28-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but five years suspended after admitting that he broke into two Bangor houses in the early morning hours of Dec. 26, 2013, while the owners were sleeping.
Jay D. Layton of Bangor pleaded guilty on Thursday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to two counts each of burglary and theft by unauthorized taking.
By pleading guilty, Layton admitted that he broke into the homes and stole more than $100,000 in jewelry from one and a safe from another.
Layton admitted that he pawned some of the stolen items to feed his drug habit.
He apologized to the woman from whom he stole the jewelry.
“I’m sorry,” he said to her. “I did not realize what the impact of this would be.”
In addition to prison time, Superior Court Justice Ann Murray sentenced Layton to two years of probation and ordered him to pay $20,000 in restitution.
Michael Roberts, deputy district attorney for Penobscot County, said after the sentencing that not much of the jewelry taken from the elderly female victim has been recovered. He said that the restitution order was the amount the judge believed Layton would be able to pay while on probation.
Murray initially rejected the plea agreement because she felt the underlying sentence of eight years was not long enough. The original deal called for Layton to serve five years and two years probation.
The judge said that she would accept an agreement with an underlying sentence of 10 years. After a brief recess, Layton agreed to accept those terms.