BANGOR, Maine — A former Winterport man who was due to be released from federal prison in January for stealing guns from an Orrington firearms dealer was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to an additional year and a day in prison for escape.
Brandon Caparotta, 24, was charged in December 2015 after he failed to return from work to a federal prerelease center on the campus of the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center in Bangor. He was completing a 4½-year prison term in connection with gun thefts more than five years ago.
Caparotta pleaded guilty to escape Dec. 30, 2015, in federal court in Bangor.
In addition to prison time, U.S. District Judge John Woodcock sentenced Caparotta to three years of supervised release.
Caparotta was one of four men convicted in connection with the theft of guns from Don Barrett, who operated the gun shop in the basement of his home on Mill Creek Road for 30 years. Barrett was alerted to the burglary by barking from Buddy, the family’s Jack Russell terrier, at about 2:45 a.m. Aug. 23, 2010.
A few minutes later, the owner found the door to his shop open and three Winchester rifles on the floor. Barrett told police he saw a car and a truck leaving the scene.
Caparotta was sentenced June 7, 2011, after pleading guilty to one count each of theft of firearms and possession of stolen firearms, according to a previously published report. He began serving his sentence the following month.
On Sept. 30, Caparotta was transferred from the federal correction center in Pollock, Louisiana, to the Northern Maine Regional Re-entry Center in Bangor, according to court documents. He was due to be released on Jan. 5, 2016.
Caparotta was working at a Dunkin’ Donuts on Nov. 22, 2015, but failed to return by 7 p.m. as required. When a safety officer at the re-entry center spoke with Caparotta’s supervisor at the coffee shop, he said that Caparotta had walked off the job about 1 p.m. that day, court documents said.
He was arrested the next day in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Griffin Road in Bangor, according to court documents.
Caparotta faced up to five years and a fine up to $250,000 for the escape charge.