BANGOR, Maine — An Orono man who served a 15-month federal prison term for illegally possessing a gun that he fired on a Bangor bus pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to bank and wire fraud conspiracy charges, according to court documents.
By pleading guilty, Jason Adam Robinson, 29, admitted that he conspired with others between February 2014 and May 2015 to steal merchandise from retail stores and sell it on eBay; return stolen items to home improvement stores for gift cards sold for a fraction of their value; and bouncing more than $4,000 in checks at local banks.
His alleged co-conspirators were not named in the prosecution version of events to which Robinson pleaded guilty but were referred to by the letters A through F.
Robinson stole toys, DVDs, flea and tick medications, teeth whitening strips, calculators, Lego sets, hunting equipment and other items from Hannaford Supermarkets, Wal-Mart, Dick’s Sporting Goods and other stores in the Bangor area, according to the court document.
After taking the items, Robinson would turn the items over to others who would sell the items on eBay, mail them to buyers, and, once payment was received, give cash to Robinson as payment. He also worked with others to take expensive items from Lowe’s and Home Depot in Greater Bangor, then return them for gift cards.
By pleading guilty to the bank fraud charge, Robinson admitted that he and co-conspirators opened checking accounts with minimum balances, obtained starter checks, then made fraudulent check deposits into accounts controlled by his co-conspirators, the court document said.
Robinson, who agreed to be held without bail, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The conspirators then sold the gift cards to others for much less than their value and divided the proceeds, according to the prosecution version of events.
He was sentenced in December 2010 in federal court in Bangor to 15 months in prison for possessing a firearm after being convicted of the misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Robinson was released on Jan. 3, 2012, after serving his sentence minus good time, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ inmate locator.
The incident that landed Robinson in federal prison began March 3, 2010, when he boarded the regional transit system’s bus 44 in Bangor that headed toward Orono-Old Town, according to previously published reports.
“He appeared to have nodded off and when a police car passed the bus with its siren on. He appeared to have awakened with a start and pulled a holstered gun from his jacket,” the prosecution version to which Robinson pleaded guilty said. “He said words to the effect of if cops boarded the bus he was going down or going out in a blaze of glory. A passenger on the bus told the defendant to put the gun away. As Robinson returned the gun to his jacket, it discharged, sending a round through the coat and out through the side of the bus.”
When the bus driver heard the gunshot, according to the prosecution version, he pulled the bus to the curb and the defendant stood up, saying it had been a firecracker. At least 20 passengers were on the bus at the time.
After the gun discharged, Robinson got off the bus near the intersection of Pine and State streets in Bangor, according to a previously published report. Bangor police and a state police trooper with a tracking dog searched the area but weren’t able to find Robinson.
About an hour after the shooting, Robinson got on another bus heading toward Orono-Old Town and was recognized by a passenger, who had been on the earlier bus when the weapon discharged, according to Bangor police. That passenger used his cellphone to call police, BAT Superintendent Joe McNeil said after the incident.
State police stopped the bus in Orono around 6 p.m. the same day. Robinson was arrested without incident.
A sentencing date on the new federal charges has not been set.
Robinson faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million on the bank fraud conspiracy, and up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on the wire fraud conspiracy charges.