BANGOR – A local man was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to two years in prison for possession of firearms by a person previously committed to a mental institution.

Kevin Fowler, 41, also was sentenced to three years of supervised release after his federal prison term and ordered to pay more than $1,200 in restitution.

Fowler faced up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Under the federal sentencing guidelines, the recommended sentence was between 30 and 37 months in federal prison, and the recommended fine was $6,000 to $60,000.

The judge, who sentenced Fowler to two years at the request of prosecutors, did not order the defendant to pay a fine.

“You have violated the trust of your mother, your parents, and your parents’ trust with their neighbors,” U.S. District Judge John Woodcock said in handing down the sentence.

Fowler pleaded guilty last year to possessing firearms after being involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. Court documents do not indicate when he was committed. He admitted breaking into his mother’s next-door neighbor’s house in May 2005 and taking several items, including two rifles and a shotgun, according to court documents.

He then sold the firearms to a witness cooperating with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. This increased his sentence because selling stolen firearms in a felony.

Fowler tearfully addressed the court before he was sentenced, saying, “This will never happen again.”

“I am glad that he is getting his guns back,” Fowler said in his apology to the victim. “It makes me happy.”