A Biddeford man who served as the getaway driver for his two roommates after they used a rifle to rob a Family Dollar store in Biddeford in 2013 has been sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland to serve 15 years in federal prison.

Walter Heathcote, 26, was the third of the trio to be sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty last Dec. 18 to charges of robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon.

The man who wielded the gun in the Dec. 2, 2013, robbery, Charles Reed III, was sentenced on Feb. 12 to serve 16 years in prison.

The other accomplice, Ryan Forrest, was sentenced on Jan. 16 to serve 125 months in prison.

All three men were described in court documents as drug addicts and roommates.

Reed had a .22-caliber Marlin Model 60 rifle when he and Forrest went into the store, used the gun to take $600 from the clerk and fled in a vehicle Heathcote was waiting in outside, according to court records.

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Heathcote had previously been convicted of felony robbery five times in Maine’s state courts and was therefore prohibited from possessing a gun, according to federal records.

Judge Nancy Torresen also sentenced Heathcote to serve five years of supervised release following completion of his prison term.

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

sdolan@pressherald.com

Twitter: @scottddolan


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