BANGOR, Maine — A Gardiner man was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court to five years in federal prison for his role in two pharmacy robberies last year in the Augusta area.
Rudger S. Ellis, 23, also was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $726 in restitution, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
He pleaded guilty in August to one count each of interference with commerce by robbery and pharmacy robbery, according to information posted on the court’s electronic case filing system.
By pleading guilty, Ellis admitted that on Feb. 7, 2015, he entered the Rite Aid Pharmacy located on North Belfast Avenue in Augusta wearing a hooded gray sweatshirt, blue and white athletic pants and gloves and covering his face with a plaid cloth, according to a release issued Wednesday by the U.S. attorney’s office. Ellis approached the counter and demanded that the pharmacist give him oxycodone, OxyContin and Ritalin.
Ellis told the pharmacy employees to hurry up and said that he had a gun, the release said. Ellis absconded with six bottles of oxycodone.
Less than two weeks later, Ellis robbed the Rite Aid Pharmacy on Spring Street in Gardiner on Feb. 18, 2015, again wearing a hooded sweatshirt and gloves and covering his face with a plaid cloth, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. He approached the pharmacy counter and demanded oxycodone.
He repeatedly told pharmacy employees to “hurry” and several times commanded: “Now, now, now!” the release said. Ellis absconded with 11 bottles of oxycodone.
Ellis’s co-defendant, Steven C. Chaput, 39, of Mount Vernon, pleaded guilty in September to the same charges. He admitted driving the getaway car for Ellis. Chaput is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 19 in federal court in Bangor.
The maximum sentence for the crimes is 20 years in federal prison and the maximum fine is $250,000.