An Oakland man was sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday after federal and state investigators used DNA evidence to link him to a 2007 pharmacy robbery.

Michael Algiere, 33, of Oakland pleaded guilty to the robbery this year and was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank said in a news release.

Algiere entered the Oakland Pharmacy in Oakland on the night of Oct. 31, 2007, wearing a black ski mask, a hooded sweatshirt and camouflage gloves, court records show. He approached the pharmacist holding a knife and carrying a black bag.

“I want your oxycodone and I’m not kidding with you,” Algiere told the pharmacist, according to court documents. The pharmacist gave Algiere several bottles of prescription medication valued at more than $500 including: Roxicodone, Oxycontin and Percocet.

Algiere fled the pharmacy. A pharmacy technician followed him for a short distance and was able to show police the path he took. Officers searched the area and were able to recover the ski mask and knife, along with some clothing.

The Maine State Police Crime Laboratory found DNA on the ski mask and knife that police investigators recovered from the robbery scene, but the lab was unable to match the DNA to a known criminal offender in 2007. Lab technicians entered the DNA into the Combined DNA Index System, which is known as CODIS.

The database contains DNA profiles of convicted offenders and people who have been arrested. Forensic labs regularly add DNA profiles to CODIS, and Maine State Police routinely compare those profiles to evidence collected in unsolved crimes.

In February 2017, a CODIS comparison revealed that DNA from the ski mask and knife matched Algiere’s DNA. Court documents state that an FBI agent, in an effort to confirm suspicions about Algiere’s involvement in the robbery, obtained a federal search warrant and collected samples of Algiere’s DNA using oral swabs on May 16, 2017.

Algiere was later arrested and pleaded guilty to the robbery charges on April 24, 2019. Judge Lance Walker sentenced Algiere to 85 months in prison and three years of supervised release for interfering with commerce by robbery.

The case was investigated by the Oakland Police Department, the FB, and the Maine State Police Crime Lab.