A Waterville woman has pleaded guilty to a federal charge that she paid another person to buy a gun for her from a Fairfield firearms dealer, according to prosecutors and court records.

Nikeshia Knight, 25, entered the plea Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Bangor to one count of aiding and abetting another individual in making false statements during the purchase of a firearm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine wrote in an announcement to the news media.

Knight faces a maximum of five years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine, to be followed by up to three years of supervised release.

She is to be sentenced by a federal judge, following a review by the U.S. Probation Office.

Knight’s court-appointed lawyer, Daniel Dubé, who has a law firm in Lewiston, wrote in an email Thursday that federal firearms offenses are serious, but Knight’s actions were on “the low end of the spectrum of severity.”

“Ms. Knight took full responsibility for her conduct — unequivocally,” Dubé wrote of the guilty plea. “We have an excellent federal bench here in Maine. I have every confidence the Court will impose a sentence that is fair to Ms. Knight and just for society.”

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Dubé also wrote in the email, “Despite any setbacks, Ms. Knight is an admirably strong individual, especially at age twenty-five.”

The investigation into Knight’s offense began after an arrest in July 2022 in Salem, Massachusetts, prosecutors wrote in court filings.

Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found that a person — identified as “Individual 1” in court records — bought the gun at A&G Shooting at 214 Center Road in Fairfield, prosecutors said.

The dealer provided paperwork for that person’s June purchase of the firearm, along with paperwork for another firearm the person bought that month.

Investigators determined that Knight was involved with the purchase of the other firearm, a Century Cugir Micro Draco 7.62×39 mm pistol, and interviewed Knight in June 2023.

“During these recorded interviews, which were Mirandized, the defendant admitted that she had Individual 1 purchase a firearm for her,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCormack wrote in a summary of the prosecution’s evidence. “The defendant said she couldn’t purchase the firearm herself because she was ‘in the middle of dealing with a case’ and would not have successfully passed a background check.”

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Knight provided the purchaser with an undisclosed amount of money and fentanyl, prosecutors said. The use of a proxy buyer is often called a “straw purchase.”

Telephone records and text messages further confirmed that Knight had directed the purchase, according to prosecutors’ court filings.

Knight, who was indicted June 12, was arrested by federal officials Sept. 26, according to court records.

At Knight’s initial court appearance and arraignment the day of her arrest, she was in state custody, according to court records. Knight agreed to be detained once released from state custody.

A sentencing hearing had yet to be scheduled as of Thursday morning.

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