AUBURN — A judge sentenced a Bronx man Tuesday to more than three years in prison on three felony charges stemming from threatening a woman with a stolen gun in front of her young child last year.
Clifton Thomas Androscoggin County Jail
On May 20, a jury found Clifton Thomas, 26, guilty of two felony counts stemming from incidents Feb. 26, 2020: domestic violence criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and reckless conduct with a firearm, both Class C crimes, each punishable by up to five years in prison.
The jury also convicted him of domestic violence terrorizing and threatening display of a weapon stemming from the same incident.
Thomas was also convicted at that time of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, a Class C felony that was decided by the trial judge.
At that trial, Thomas was convicted of domestic violence assault stemming from incident Feb. 7, 2020, involving the same woman.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that Thomas entered the woman’s Lewiston home uninvited where he loaded a gun in front of her. She watched him point the gun at her as she had her young child between her legs.
Thomas then threatened to kill her, Assistant District Attorney Katherine Bozeman said.
Thomas kept the victim’s cellphone, only offering to return it to her if she let him shoot her in the leg.
Thomas had been on parole from New York at the time on a felony assault charge and was arrested in Lewiston on a fugitive from justice warrant. He’s also facing a murder charge in New York.
“The state finds it hard to imagine a way to commit domestic violence criminal threatening that’s much more egregious than holding a loaded firearm toward the mother … while her child is in between her legs,” said Bozeman, who noted the woman and Thomas have a child together.
Bozeman recommended a total sentence for Thomas of nearly six years, including a separate sentence on an assault charge with the same victim that happened weeks earlier that left the woman bruised and swollen.
Defense attorney John Pelletier recommended the judge impose a sentence of the roughly 16 months Thomas has already been behind bars at Androscoggin County Jail.
Justice Thomas McKeon settled on a sentence of three-and-a-half years in prison for the first felony charge and concurrent sentences on the remaining charges stemming from the Feb. 26 incident.
He imposed a sentence of 364 days on the domestic violence assault charge from the Feb. 7 incident, suspending all of that sentence, but added two years of probation.
When Lewiston police arrested Thomas in February 2020, they recovered a stolen revolver, 59 grams of fentanyl and $2,700 in suspected drug proceeds.
A felony drug trafficking charge in Androscoggin County is pending against Thomas.
Bozeman said Thomas has a high chance of reoffending, referring to a domestic violence checklist score and a juvenile conviction of first-degree felony assault with a weapon.
She said Thomas showed no remorse for his crimes.
But Thomas, appearing via videoconference from the jail, said he maintains his innocence and plans to appeal his conviction and sentence.
While on probation, Thomas will be barred from having any dangerous weapons or firearms for which he can be searched at random, McKeon said, nor may he have any contact with the victim.
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