A Superior Court judge has denied Alan Roy’s request for another shot at probation.

AUBURN – A 23-year-old career criminal who has been arrested nearly 50 times is going to prison for the first time.

Alan Roy was sentenced Wednesday to 12 months in the Maine Correctional Center for violating his probation only days after he got out of jail.

Earlier this year, the Sun Journal interviewed Roy at the Androscoggin County Jail for a story about the state’s overburdened probation system. At the time, he had been in and out of jail six times and had been assigned to five different probation officers.

He was about to get out and begin a two-year probation period. A father of two young children, he told the newspaper that he was ready to turn his life around and abide by the rules of his probation.

Days later, Roy was arrested after his welcome-home party for smashing the door and windows of a Blake Street apartment and making excessive noise.

According to court papers, Roy refused to submit to an intoxilyzer test and a drug screening after his arrest. He also failed to tell police that he was on probation.

Roy’s attorney, Donald Hornblower, attempted to convince a judge that Roy deserves another chance to get extensive counseling for substance abuse. Hornblower asked Justice Ellen Gorman to consider the fact that Roy has always accepted responsibility for his crimes by pleading guilty.

“He needs probation,” Hornblower argued.

Gorman wasn’t convinced. She sentenced Roy to 12 months, which was the suspended portion of his original sentence. The length of the sentence will require Roy to go to prison, opposed to serving his time in a county jail as he has done every time before.

“Accepting responsibility is more than just pleading guilty,” Gorman said.

Roy had been on probation most recently for two theft cases. On Oct. 4, 2003, he stole $40 worth of liquor from a Hannaford store in Auburn. Then, on Aug. 6, 2003, he broke into a truck owned by Central Distributors Inc. and stole seven cases of Old Milwaukee beer.

He pleaded guilty in both cases and was sentenced to 18 months with all but six months suspended, followed by two years of probation.

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