ELLSWORTH – A man sentenced last month to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of gross sexual assault has had more time added to his sentence because of federal probation violations, the chief prosecutor in Hancock County said Thursday.

Eugene Merchant of Prospect Harbor was found on Feb. 22 to have violated the terms of his federal probation and was sentenced to 24 months to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, according to Hancock County District Attorney Michael Povich.

U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal cited a blood test given to Merchant on Sept. 28, 2000, that tested positive for marijuana and Merchant’s Nov. 18 conviction for kidnapping, gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact in deciding upon the two-year consecutive federal sentence, Povich said.

Povich said that with the federal sentence, Merchant most certainly would remain in prison until 2024. The Prospect Harbor man is serving his state sentence at the Maine State Prison in Warren, he said.

“He’s been in for 13 months,” Povich said, referring to Merchant’s December 2000 arrest on the rape and kidnapping charges. With time he already has served in Hancock County, and the possibility of getting time off his state sentence for good behavior, Merchant could finish his state sentence in 2022, he said.

Merchant was on federal probation for possession of a firearm by a felon when he was arrested on Dec. 8, 2000, Povich said. Merchant also was convicted of gross sexual assault in 1986, according to documents filed in Hancock County Superior Court.

At the end of a five-day trial last fall, Merchant was found guilty of kidnapping a 17-year-old girl on Dec. 7, 2000, and raping her in a location off Punkinville Road in Sullivan. Povich argued during the trial that Merchant had been riding around with the girl and her fiance before tricking the other man out of the car and driving off with the girl and raping her.

At his sentencing on Jan. 4, Merchant told Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm he wanted a new attorney to replace Orrington attorney Julio DeSanctis, who was representing him at the time. He also told Hjelm that he intended to appeal the conviction to the Maine Law Court.

Povich said Thursday he did not know whether Merchant was pursuing an appeal.

A message left Thursday evening at the Prospect Harbor home of Merchant’s parents, who have proclaimed their son’s innocence throughout the court proceedings, was not immediately returned.