A Connecticut man who posted videos threatening to commit a shooting at a Walmart was sentenced Thursday to 72 months in federal prison.

Jeremy Rogers, right, during a 2019 hearing in the Knox County Court in Rockland. Stephen Betts/The Courier-Gazette

U.S. District Court Judge George Singal sentenced Jeremy Rogers, 26, to 72 months on a single count of a felon in possession of a firearm. Rogers will be on supervised release for three years after his release from prison. The sentencing Thursday was done via video.

Rogers also must participate in a 500-hour comprehensive drug treatment program.

Defense attorney James Mason argued for a lesser sentence, offering not to appeal the sentence if it was less than 46 months.

In the sentencing memo offered by Mason, he pointed out that Rogers’ father was an abusive alcoholic who took out his anger on his wife and children. Rogers was the oldest male child and took the brunt of the abuse, the defense attorney said.

When his parents separated, he lived with his father and endured more abuse, including having a gun pointed at this head by a drug dealer living at his father’s place.

“(Rogers) developed survival responses including a calloused approach to life and dark humor in response,” Mason stated in his sentencing memo to the court.

“Jeremy admits he says and does dumb things. He likes to shock people and is quick to say something without taking the time to think about it. He is part of various Facebook groups that share content that many people would find obnoxious and gross, and those reactions held appeal for him, even more than the content itself. He lacks any the self-control necessary to regulate those impulses and is now feeling the repercussions,” Mason said.

The charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm carried a maximum possible prison term of 10 years along with a fine of up to $250,000.

Rogers has been held in jail since Aug. 22, 2019, when he was arrested outside a residence on Mt. Pleasant Street in Rockport by Rockland Police Deputy Chief Joel Neal.

The arrest came moments after Thomaston Police Chief Tim Hoppe obtained a state arrest warrant against Rogers.

Rogers, from Connecticut, was staying at a residence of a family friend in Rockport.

New York police notified local police in Maine that Rogers sent a video via Facebook messenger to a woman in New York showing him wearing a ski mask and holding an AR-15 rifle. In the video, he is quoted as saying, “(Expletive), I’m going to Walmart,” according to an affidavit filed in Knox County Court in Rockland.

A second video showed Rogers, without a mask, making disparaging comments about a woman and pointing a gun at his head, according to the affidavit.

Rockport police were alerted because family members said Rogers recently moved to the town.

The affidavit filed in federal court revealed Rogers purchased ammunition suitable for use in an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle from Walmart in Thomaston on Aug. 10, 2019. The FBI statement also detailed additional threats Rogers made over Facebook.

On Aug. 12, 2019, he posted a photograph of the AR-15 and said, “Wanna see my new Walmart killer?”

“I got so bored, I bought a bunch of bullets and shotgun shells. I named her Bella,” Rogers stated in the posts, according to the FBI affidavit.

He then commented online that he was trying to figure out what was wrong with one of his guns because it could only fire one shot at a time.

On Aug. 18, 2019, he sent a Facebook message to another person showing a photograph of the interior of a Walmart with the comment “Match begins at 2.”

Later in the day, he sent a post to another person, where he wore a mask and said he was going to Walmart.

Yet another video shows Rogers firing a Glock17C handgun with a small flashlight attached to it. He then shows himself handling three separate handguns and states “Man, I’m drowning in pistols. I got the 9mm Makarov, from Russia with love. Let’s go to Austria, get the police Glock, and let’s go over … and get out the other Glock.”

A criminal background check on Rogers found he had convictions in 2016 in Connecticut for criminal possession of a firearm, and causing risk of injury to a child, according to court records.