BANGOR, Maine — A 27-year-old Levant man who robbed a Guilford pharmacy at knifepoint and then fled in a mail truck more than three years ago was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to nearly seven years in federal prison.
Michael Thompson, who has a criminal record in Maine dating to his teenage years, was sentenced to six years and 10 months to be followed by four years of supervised release.
Thompson’s criminal history in Maine includes convictions for burglary, theft, assault, forgery and drug possession, U.S. District Judge John Woodcock said.
In addition to prison time, the judge ordered Thompson, who has no work history because he has spent most of his adult life behind bars, to pay restitution of nearly $5,200.
Thompson stole a pickup truck on March 9, 2012, with Clifford John Sprague, 37, of Exeter, the judge said Monday in describing how the defendant committed the crime. The two men took the truck when the driver went into a convenience store in Guilford to pay for gas.
The next day, Thompson drove the truck to the Rite Aid in Guilford, got out of it wearing a winter jumpsuit, ski mask and hooded sweatshirt, but left the truck running, according to court documents.
He went to the pharmacy area, jumped over the counter and brandished a large hunting knife, Woodcock said Monday in describing how the crime was committed. Thompson demanded oxycodone and other narcotics, which employees gave him.
In the meantime, a customer in the drugstore parking lot saw Thompson get out of the truck and suspected he was about to commit a robbery because of the way he was dressed. Because the truck was running, the concerned citizen moved it to another part of the lot where it could not be seen when Thompson came out.
When Thompson did not see the truck, he ran across the street to the Guilford post office, Woodcock said. The robber threatened a driver, who refused to get out of her car, with the knife. After another postal patron spoke to Thompson, he ran behind the post office and took off in a mail delivery truck.
At some point, Thompson contacted Sprague, who picked up him not far from the town center, and the robber abandoned the postal truck.
As the pair traveled to Sprague’s home, Thompson saw a state trooper headed toward them in a cruiser, jumped out of Sprague’s vehicle and ran into nearby woods, the judge said.
On his escape route, Thompson came upon a frozen creek, Woodcock said. While attempting to cross it, he broke through the ice and got wet. Thompson was able to get to a nearby house and seek assistance. The owner took him to Sprague’s house believing Thompson had been in a snowmobile accident.
A few day later, Thompson went to Portland where he bought a bus ticket to Florida under an assumed name. He got off the bus in Georgia and by May 3, 2012, was wanted for forgery in that state. Thompson returned to Maine before he began serving his sentence on the forgery charges. Charges against Thompson still are pending in Georgia.
By April 3, 2013, he was back in Maine and in the Penobscot County Jail on an alleged probation violation for a burglary committed in August 2011 in Harmony. Thompson was arrested again in July 2014 after a high-speed chase in a stolen pickup truck that spanned two counties. He was charged in federal court with the pharmacy robbery in October 2014, according to court records.
In sentencing Thompson on Thursday, Woodcock described the defendant’s life as “tough and tragic.” Thompson’s aunt was Mindy Gould, 20, of Dexter, who was murdered by Jeffrey Cookson in December 1999. Cookson also killed 21-month-old Treven Cunningham, the Dexter toddler Gould was baby-sitting.
Cookson is serving two life sentences at the Maine State Prison for the slayings.
Thompson faces state charges for unrelated crimes in Penobscot, Piscataquis and Somerset counties, according to his attorney, Terence Harrigan of Bangor. Those cases are to be resolved July 6 in Piscataquis County Superior Court.
One of those charges stemmed from an alleged assault while Thompson was in the Penobscot County Jail on May 13, 2013, on Nicholas Sexton, 34, of Warwick, Rhode Island. Sexton was awaiting trial with co-defendant Randall Daluz, 37, of Brockton, Mass., in connection with the death of three people in what police called a drug deal gone bad in August 2012.
On May 28, 2014, after a month-long trial, Daluz was convicted of three counts of murder and one count of arson for killing Nicolle Lugdon, Daniel Borders and Lucas Tuscano and burning the car in which they were killed. Sexton was found guilty on one count each of murder and arson. The jury could not reach a verdict on two of the murder charges lodged against him.
Thompson is charged with assault in connection with the alleged attack on Sexton. He is scheduled to plead guilty July 6 in court in Dover-Foxcroft to the assault charge and a dozen other charges connected to a high-speed chase last July that ended in Ripley when Thompson flipped the stolen pickup truck.
The plea agreement calls for Thompson to be sentenced to four years in state prison on all the charges to be served concurrent to his federal sentence.
Thompson has been held without bail since his arrest in October on the pharmacy robbery charge. That time will be applied to his sentence.
Thompson faced up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.