Sanford man pleads guilty to multiple firearm offenses (DOJ)

PORTLAND, Maine: A Sanford man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Portland to discharging a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, conspiring to use and carry firearms during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court records, late in the evening on January 3, 2024, Benjamin Ball, 31, fired a 9mm pistol into a residence in Lebanon over a drug debt owed to a co-conspirator. Ball fired the pistol from the front passenger seat of a vehicle as it drove past the residence. The shooting was captured on a motion-activated security camera mounted on a house across the street from the residence. At the time of the shooting, the residents were home and asleep in their beds.

Ball also conspired with others to carry out two additional shootings at the Lebanon residence, and a shooting at a residence in Acton using the 9mm pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun, and an AR-15. At the time of the shootings, Ball had been previously convicted of several felonies, and therefore was prohibited from possessing firearms.

For the discharging a firearm count, Ball faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, which must be served consecutively to the sentences imposed on the other counts of conviction, and a maximum of five years of supervised release. On each of the remaining counts, he faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigative report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Two of Ball's co-conspirators, Jason Fernald, 47, and Evan Chapman, 28, previously pleaded guilty to their involvement in the shootings.

The York County Sheriff's Office and FBI's Southern Maine Gang Task Force investigated the case, with assistance from the Sanford, Kittery, and Gorham police departments; the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Project Safe Neighborhoods: This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-me/psn.