A Waterville man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to a burglary at a licensed firearms dealer in downtown Waterville in 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine said in a press release.

Damiean Marcial-Alexander, 21, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Bangor, the release said.

In April 2022, Marcial-Alexander and a coconspirator broke into J.R.’s Trading & Pawn at 100 Elm St. in downtown Waterville and stole multiple firearms, prosecutors said. They used a hammer to break a glass display case to gather the guns, authorities said at the time.

Marcial-Alexander lived across the street from J.R.’s Trading at the time the burglary occurred.

According to a theft/loss report submitted by the store owner to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 15 firearms  were reported stolen, including six revolvers and nine semi-automatic pistols. Evidence collected included Instagram and text messages planning the theft, including a map to the location from Marcial-Alexander’s apartment.

Marcial-Alexander and Ryan Ansart, a 21-year-old from West Springfield, Massachusetts, were arrested in Massachusetts last year and charged with the burglary.

A cellphone confiscated from Ansart contained photographs that showed Ansart and Marcial-Alexander displaying the stolen weapons, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

Investigators relied on an informant, text messages between Marcial-Alexander and Ansart, and Marcial-Alexander’s Instagram messages to further implicate the pair.

Authorities said the pair sold some of the guns in the weeks after the burglary.

Marcial-Alexander faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by up to three years of supervised release. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The ATF investigated the case with assistance from the Waterville Police Department.