PORTLAND — An Auburn man was sentenced in federal court to spend nearly five years in prison for having a gun after he was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence.

Willie Richard Minor, 58, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to 57 months in prison, plus three years of supervised release. He was convicted Dec. 13, 2017, after a two-day trial.

He faced up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Minor was convicted in Superior Court in June 2010 of assaulting his then-wife. As a result of that conviction, Minor was barred from having any firearms. On Nov. 27, 2016, in an interview with a detective at the Auburn Police Department, Minor admitted he had a gun and told police he kept it in his apartment. Police later searched his apartment after getting a warrant and found the .38-caliber pistol Minor had described.

His sentence was harsher because he used the gun during an assault.

Meanwhile, Minor faces six charges in state court, including gross sexual assault, a Class A felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison, and aggravated sex trafficking, a Class B felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Police began investigating Minor in late November 2016 after a 45-year-old woman reported he forced her into prostitution before turning jealous and repeatedly beating her, at one point placing a belt around her neck and pulling it tight.

The woman told investigators that Minor created several Backpage.com accounts to advertise her services as a prostitute. She also said Minor instructed her on what sex acts she was to perform on clients and controlled the money she made through prostitution.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com

Willie Minor (Androscoggin County Jail photo)