BANGOR – A Lakeville Plantation man and former school board chairman in Sagadahoc County was sentenced earlier this week to more than two years in federal prison on child pornography charges.

Gary D. Johnson, 59, formerly of Bowdoin, was sentenced on Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to 27 months in prison. He also was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

He faced up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Under the federal sentencing guidelines, the recommended sentence for Johnson was between 27 and 33 months in prison.

Johnson, who retired from the U.S. Navy after 23 years, had no prior criminal history. He served on the SAD 75 school committee for several years in the 1990s. The towns of Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Topsham and Harpswell comprise the district area.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock on Monday denied a defense motion to go outside the federal sentencing guidelines and sentence Johnson to a year or less in prison, followed by two years of supervised release.

Johnson pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in April in federal court in Bangor. He is being held at the Piscataquis County Jail until he can be assigned to a federal prison facility.

Law enforcement officials seized Johnson’s computer in April 2003 at his Bowdoin home after investigators found he had used a credit card to purchase access to the Web site LolitasWorld.org.

A forensic examination of Johnson’s computer unearthed a significant collection of child pornography, according to court documents.

At least three of the images included pictures of minor girls engaged in sexually explicit activities that have been traced by federal investigators to Brazil, England and Texas.