PORTLAND —  A Kittery defendant will spend more than three years in prison after pleading guilty to purchasing a rifle while he was limited by a restraining order issued for domestic abuse. 

On Friday, Zachary Spinney, 36, of Kittery was sentenced in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Nancy Torresen to 38 months in prison and three years of supervised release for possessing a firearm while being subject to a protection from abuse order. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Richard W. Murphy said that Spinney had entered a plea of guilty to the charge last November.

Murphy said court records show that Spinney and his girlfriend purchased a Ruger, model AR556, 5.56mm semi-automatic rifle and more than 180 rounds of ammunition from a licensed firearms dealer in Maine in July 2016. 

He said that security footage obtained by law enforcement investigators show Spinney carrying ammunition out of the store and later that same day, Spinney fired the rifle at a sand pit in Eliot. 

According to Murphy, Spinney was prohibited from possessing the firearm because of a March 2016 protection from abuse order issued in Maine. 

Torresen listened to testimony relating the defendant’s lengthy history of domestic violence before imposing sentence and increased Spinney’s prison time up five months from the top of the guideline range in order to further protect the public.

The investigation into Spinney’s activities was conducted by the Kittery Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 326, or by email at [email protected].