A Brunswick man was sentenced yesterday in federal court for being a felon in possession of a firearm, Acting U.S. Attorney Donald E. Clark announced.

Chief U.S. District Judge John D. Levy sentenced James Prescott III, 28, to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Prescott pleaded guilty in April, according to Clark’s office.

Clark said that, according to court records, in September 2020, the Brunswick police received a report that a vehicle was burglarized and a firearm was taken from it. The caller described a male wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants and a blue hospital mask in a parking lot about 15 feet from the vehicle.

Shortly after, Topsham police found someone matching the description. Officers identified the suspect as Prescott and recovered the stolen firearm from him.

Prescott was prohibited from having a firearm because in 2015 he was convicted of Theft by Receiving Stolen Property, a crime that was punishable by up to one year of incarceration.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Brunswick and Topsham police departments investigated this case as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative.