A convicted felon from Eddington who was caught in Holden last year with drugs and a loaded gun was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to serve 75 months in prison.

Nicholas McDonald, 33, was arrested April 5, 2013, after he ran from the passenger seat of a vehicle when a Holden police officer pulled it over, according to court records. He was found in nearby woods.

Inside the car, police found a safe that contained a loaded Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun, a digital scale and drug packaging material.

McDonald was taken after his arrest to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where an officer found he had hidden a package of heroin inside his body, court records state.

McDonald was prohibited from having a firearm because he was convicted in Maine in 2006 of a felony charge of failing to report to serve a sentence of imprisonment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The woman who had been driving the car told authorities that McDonald had traded two or three bags of heroin to a drug addict in exchange for the gun, court records state.

McDonald pleaded guilty before Judge John Woodcock Jr. on March 4 to charges of possession of heroin with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm by a felon.

The judge also sentenced McDonald to serve three years of supervised release after completion of his prison term.

Scott Dolan can be reached at 791-6304 or at:

sdolan@pressherald.com

Twitter: @scottddolan

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