County man gets federal sentence Nightingale was felon with stolen gun

BANGOR – A Presque Isle man will go from state prison to federal prison after being sentenced last week in U.S. District Court on gun charges.

Bobby L. Nightingale, 24, was sentenced Thursday to three years and six months in federal prison for possession of a firearm by a felon and being in possession of a stolen firearm.

He also was sentenced to three years of supervised release following his release from federal prison and ordered to pay a $500 fine.

Nightingale was indicted by a federal grand jury in September for selling a stolen firearm to an Eagle Lake man in 2002. Nightingale was prohibited from having guns because of a burglary conviction prior to 2002.

He pleaded guilty to the federal charges in December.

Nightingale was sentenced in September 2004 in Aroostook County Superior Court to four years in state prison with all but two years suspended on charges of burglary, theft, criminal mischief and violating conditions of release.

He also was ordered to pay nearly $9,000 in restitution in that case.

Nightingale was arrested in April 2004 at his parents’ home after the Presque Isle Police Department used its tracking bloodhound Hunter to follow his scent from a Main Street law office to the boarding house where Nightingale had rented a room.

He later pleaded guilty to stealing a safe from the law office.

Nightingale is expected to be transferred to a federal prison later this month after completing his state sentence for the that burglary.