AUGUSTA — A former Clinton man told a judge on Tuesday that instead of reporting to jail as ordered, he chose to stay home and take care of his family because they were living in a tent in a campground at the time.

Louis Joseph Rubino, 34, had been arrested Sept. 3, 2015, in Clinton on several warrants, including one from Knox County for failure to appear to serve a sentence. At the time, he also was charged with a operating after habitual offender revocation and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

In exchange for the pleas, other charges were dismissed: carrying a concealed weapon, having a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle, and displaying a fictional certificate of vehicle inspection, all from Sept. 3, 2015, as well as a separate theft charge from Nov. 2, 2015.

On Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center, Rubino was sentenced to two years in jail, all suspended, and two years probation which is to be served once he finishes serving a two-year period of probation from Lincoln County. There was a separate sentence of 30 days on the operating after habitual offender revocation, and he was given credit for time served.

Rubino said he was just released Friday after spending seven months in jail, the unsuspended portion of the sentence in Lincoln County.

The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh said that while Rubino had an extensive criminal record, there was also an indication that he had some mental health issues which have been addressed recently with a change in medication.

Cavanaugh also said the loaded handgun found in the vehicle’s center console last September belonged to the woman who is now Rubino’s wife, who had bought it for her own use, but acknowledged that Rubino had taken control over it.

Rubino’s attorney, James Mason, said Rubino’s marriage and baby as well as taking care of two step-children have helped provide stability for him, as is a caseworker who is assisting him.

“Where he is now from when I first met him, there has been a vast difference,” Mason told the judge in support of the sentencing recommendation. Mason said he has been representing Rubino for two years.

Rubino told Justice Donald Marden that he had served a total of about six years in prison for other offenses and that he and his family are currently in an apartment in New Auburn and no longer in a tent.

In July 2010, Rubino, then living in Auburn, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but four years suspended and four years’ probation after being convicted of unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs, which occurred in 2006.

At a separate hearing also on Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center, an Oakland man was sentenced to an initial three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to unlawful trafficking in cocaine.

Anthony Leemanual Carmona, 38, saw the remainder of his seven year sentence suspended, and he will spend three years on probation.

According to court documents, the offense occurred Dec. 7, 2015, in Oakland.

He also was fined $400 and ordered to pay $360 restitution for the cost of the state’s drug tests.

In 2007, Carmona was convicted in Kennebec County Superior Court of illegal importation of cocaine and unlawful possession of cocaine. At that time, he was sentenced to an initial 16 months in prison, with the remainder of the five-year sentence suspended.

Also on Tuesday, Austin Shostak Bond, 25, of Jefferson pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of drugs and was fined $400. He also forfeited a firearm that had been seized.

In exchange for his plea, a felony drug charge was dismissed.

Bond was one of eight people arrested in a Jan. 29, 2016, raid by Maine Drug Enforcement Agency investigators on a Vassalboro home.

During the raid, agents reported seizing 28 grams of heroin, 65 grams of crack or cocaine base, 25 grams of powdered cocaine, 15 grams of methamphetamine, 12 grams of psilocybin mushrooms and $2,000 in cash believed to be connected to drug sales, according to the release.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams