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Press Release
Portland, Maine: Acting United States Attorney Richard W. Murphy announced that Zachary Spinney, 36, of Kittery, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Nancy Torresen to 38 months in prison and three years of supervised release for possessing a firearm while being subject to a protection from abuse order. Spinney pleaded guilty to the charge on November 28, 2016.
According to court records and proceedings, in July 2016, Spinney and his girlfriend purchased a Ruger, model AR556, 5.56mm semi-automatic rifle and over 180 rounds of ammunition from a licensed firearms dealer. Security footage captured Spinney carrying the ammunition out of the store. Later that day, Spinney fired the rifle at a sand pit in Eliot. Spinney was prohibited from possessing the firearm because of a March 2016 protection from abuse order issued in Maine.
In imposing sentence, Chief Judge Torresen heard testimony describing the defendant’s significant history of domestic violence and varied his sentence up five months from the top of the guideline range in order to protect the public.
The investigation was conducted by the Kittery Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Darcie N. McElwee
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257