BANGOR – An Augusta man was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to more than 15 years in prison for the armed robbery of a Vassalboro credit union more than a year ago.

Albert Thomas Peaslee Jr., 22, was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison for the robbery on Oct. 18, 2004, and an additional seven years for brandishing a gun at credit union employees.

He and his two accomplices used the more than $12,000 stolen from Maine Savings Federal Credit Union to buy drugs and gamble at Foxwoods casino in Connecticut.

Peaslee’s extensive criminal history included four assaults on men, women and a child, U.S. District Judge John Woodcock said as he imposed the sentence.

“I see that as a manifest need to protect society from your behavior of violence,” Woodcock said. “This court is not a social agency. This court must impose a prison term that reflects what you did to other people.

“There are little, if any, mitigating circumstance in this crime,” the judge said. “You set out to commit a violent crime. … You terrified wholly innocent bankers and tellers.”

Peaslee, Jeremy Jones, 27, of Gardiner, and Jimmy Lee Wilson, 20, of Augusta decided to rob the credit union after an attempted robbery earlier in the day at the Log Cabin Store in Wiscasset went awry.

Jones and Peaslee entered the credit union wearing ski masks, gloves and sweat shirts while Wilson stayed in the car. Peaslee pointed the loaded gun at the tellers.

As one of the tellers moved toward an office, he told her, “Don’t do it lady, I’ll shoot you in the back,” according to court documents.

The other two men pleaded guilty to taking part in the robbery last year.

Jones was sentenced last year to 71/2 years in prison for his part in the robbery and was ordered to pay a share of the restitution. Wilson is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 18.

Peaslee also was ordered Tuesday to pay a share of $12,507 in restitution and to serve five years of supervised release after his exit from federal prison.

He faced up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Because he used a gun in the robbery, he faced an additional mandatory sentence of seven years to life.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Peaslee faced between 84 and 105 months in prison for the robbery alone.