AUGUSTA — A 48-year-old Augusta man pleaded guilty this week to threatening neighbors with a loaded shotgun as they tried to bring him a plate of food.

Bruce M. Roy was ordered to serve an initial four months behind bars, and the remainder of the three-year term for criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon was suspended while he spends two years on probation. The hearing took place Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center.

Police say Roy rejected a meal from two neighbors before threatening to shoot them with a loaded shotgun. Earlier he had told them he had not eaten much lately.

During the Aug. 26 incident, he ordered the neighbors to go upstairs, telling them, “I’m not f’ing around.”

They complied.

Roy later told police that he heard the neighbors making statements about wanting to hurt someone and he believed it was directed at him. The weapons had a shell inside the chamber and two others inside the firearm.

Conditions of probation prohibit Roy from having firearms or other dangerous weapons and require him to undergo a psychological evaluation, counseling and treatment to the satisfaction of his probation officer. Roy was also banned from contact with the neighbors.

The man named as a victim of the threatening told police that an hour earlier he and Roy had smoked marijuana together, and that he and a woman who lived in a neighboring apartment brought Roy a plate of food for dinner.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams