PORTLAND, Maine — An Auburn man was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court to eight years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Lonnie Ball, 28, pleaded guilty to the charge on Nov. 16, 2015, according to the court’s electronic case filing system.
In addition to prison time, Ball was sentenced to three years of supervised release.
Ball was charged on Jan. 29, 2015, after police found a loaded .40-caliber pistol with an obliterated serial number in his possession during a traffic stop, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a press release. His criminal history includes 2009 and 2012 convictions in Pennsylvania for robbery and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, respectively.
In sentencing Ball, U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby said that he imposed a lengthy sentence because of the “need to protect the public in light of the serious criminal history Mr. Ball has been accumulating,” the release said.