BANGOR – A former Maine Warden Service pilot was found guilty Friday in Penobscot County Superior Court of bilking the state out of $20,000.

Jason Bouchard, 38, of Enfield was convicted on three counts of theft after a weeklong trial. He faces up to 16 years in prison and could be ordered to pay restitution to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, according to Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin, who prosecuted the case.

Bouchard did not react as the verdict was read. More than a dozen of the defendant’s friends and family, however, quietly groaned when the jury of five men and seven women announced the verdict after deliberating 2 1/4 hours.

Robbin told the jury in her closing argument Friday morning that Bouchard was repeatedly ordered by his supervisors not to buy gasoline for his state-owned plane from the aviation firm he owned and operated at the Lincoln Regional Airport. Bouchard not only ignored that directive, but came up with an elaborate scheme to thwart the state employee conflict-of-interest rule not once, but twice, argued the prosecutor.

Bouchard bought airplane fuel at wholesale rates but sold it to DIF&W at retail prices, running the reimbursement through a business associate, said Robbin. When the two had a falling out, Bouchard ran the billing through a West Enfield gas station owned by a friend until his supervisors caught on.

Between the summer of 1998 and early 2001, Bouchard made about $20,000 on the scheme, argued the prosecutor.

Defense attorney Steven Blackwell of Bangor said that Bouchard was trying to avoid a conflict of interest by paying for the gas the way he did. The state never paid more than the “going rate” for the gas, Blackwell argued, and the ex-warden pilot used it to fly his missions in the state-owned aircraft.

“Jason Bouchard’s only mistake,” the attorney told the jury in his closing argument, “is that he wouldn’t back down. He asked to be investigated four times. He’s like an aging boxer. He won’t lay down and he won’t quit. Jason Bouchard accounted for every hour he flew and every gallon of gas he used.”

Robbin countered that the ex-warden sought the investigation because he was “gearing up for a civil action” against his former partner, Keith Strange, who has countersued Bouchard in Penobscot County Superior Court. Those suits were stayed pending the outcome of the criminal trial.

Presiding Justice Andrew Mead indicated after the verdict that he expected post-trial motions to be filed in the case. However, Blackwell said Friday afternoon that decisions about possible motions were not final.

No date was set for sentencing; the judge didn’t mention the pre-sentencing report usually ordered at the end of a criminal trial.