A Winthrop woman who turned in a sawed-off shotgun to police 20 months ago, saying she believed it was stolen and didn’t want it at her house, pleaded guilty earlier this month to a federal charge of possession of a non-registered, sawed-off shotgun.
Abigail Webb, 23, remains free on a personal recognizance bond. The charge, which was filed against Webb in U.S. District Court in Bangor, carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.
According to the prosecution’s version of events, Webb had received the sawed-off shotgun from a person in Winthrop in a trade Feb. 2, 2017, and turned it over to an officer at the Winthrop Police Department three days later.
The document, filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Lowell, says Webb told the officer “that she had been arrested in New Hampshire a few days before and did not want the shotgun at her residence.”
The shotgun was identified as a Shinn-A-Sipja Ind. Co. 12-gauge shotgun that was 20 inches long, including a barrel that was a little more than 12½ inches long.
The woman said she believed the person who gave it to her had stolen it and that she had other stolen items at her home.
Police found computers, televisions and other electronics along with various drug paraphernalia at Webb’s house, Lowell wrote. “(Webb) admitted to the officer she had been involved in drug dealing.”
Webb pleaded guilty to the federal charge Nov. 6 when she waived indictment. Webb is represented by attorney James Nixon.
A Feb. 4, 2017, news release from the New Hampshire Department of Safety states that a 2017 GMC Envoy was stopped for speeding at 2:45 a.m. that day on Interstate 95 northbound in Portsmouth.
Webb was identified as the driver. Police reported finding marijuana, heroin, crack cocaine, MDMA (Ecstasy) and prescription pills when they searched the vehicle and passengers.
Webb, who was listed as living in Monmouth, was charged with misdemeanor-level transporting a controlled drug. Two passengers, Ryan Bridges, then 35, of Augusta, and Jeremy Francis, then 27, of Groton, New York, were charged with felony-level drug charges, according to the release.
The dispositions of those cases were not available.
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