Careless Firearm Use Near Exeter Residence Leads to a 1 Year Plus 1 Day Sentence for Illegal Possession for Millinocket Man

BANGOR, Maine: A Millinocket man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Bangor for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Chief U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker sentenced Scott Lynch, Jr., 23, to 12 months plus one day imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. Lynch pleaded guilty on December 13, 2023.

According to court records, in November 2020, the Maine Warden Service received a complaint about shots being fired at a residence in Exeter, Maine. A game warden observed bullets lodged in the exterior walls of the residence, and the homeowners reported hearing gunshots from across the pond and seeing two individuals wearing hunter’s orange. The warden located Lynch and a 14‑year-old minor in a parked truck. Lynch admitted to the warden that that he had been target shooting in the woods. He also told the warden that he was a convicted felon. The warden located .22 caliber and .308 caliber casings in the woods where Lynch stated they had been shooting.

While at the minor’s house to retrieve the .22 rifle, the warden overheard the minor tell his mother that there was another rifle hidden in the house, which the mother then retrieved. Lynch had the key to a gun case on a key ring on his belt. Two guns were retrieved from the case, a .308 caliber rifle and a 9mm pistol, with obliterated serial numbers. Further investigation showed both the guns and the case had been stolen from a vehicle in Millinocket, and Lynch told investigators that he had traded a dirt bike for the firearms.

The Maine Warden Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.

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