BANGOR — A former Bangor resident and an Aroostook County man changed their pleas to guilty Monday for the illegal possession of child pornography they received over the computer.
In separate hearings, John Harper, 42, now reportedly of the Trenton area and Dana Doody, 39, of Limestone appeared before Maine’s Chief U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby.
Hornby, who normally presides at U.S. District Court in Portland, came to Bangor federal court Monday. On occasion, federal judges from northern and southern parts of the state switch locations for a short period, usually from one day to one week.
Harper was indicted secretly by a federal grand jury last winter on two counts of possession of child pornography. One count will be dropped according to a plea agreement worked out between Harper and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Doody was not indicted but pleaded guilty to information charging him with one count of possession of images of child pornography.
Each of the men face a possible maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Harper was released on a $5,000 unsecured bond with special conditions pending sentencing.
Doody was released on personal recognizance bail. Sentencings for both will take place in a few weeks pending completion of presentence reports.
In another hearing, Mark Cormier, 29, of Old Orchard Beach changed his plea to guilty to one count of making a false statement to a law enforcement officer and one count of use of a false identification document.
Cormier allegedly attempted to cross the border from Canada into Houlton on or about Aug. 5 by giving a U.S. Customs inspector the birth certificate of another man.
Cormier is a U.S. citizen but has outstanding arrest warrants against him in Massachusetts, his home state.
No information was available Monday on what the arrest warrants charged.
Cormier remains in federal custody in Aroostook County.
He faces a possible maximum penalty of eight years in prison and $500,000 in fines.
In a separate case, an Augusta man Monday changed his plea to guilty for possessing an unregistered sawed-off shotgun. Donald J. Reith, 28, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine. He was returned to jail in Kennebec County.
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