AUBURN – Dennis Austin could have simply fled when he heard the elderly couple walk through the door.

Instead, he pointed a gun at them and threatened to “blow off their heads” if they didn’t wait in their bedroom while he filled his pockets with $2,000 worth of their jewelry.

For that reason, Justice Ellen Gorman sentenced Austin on Tuesday to four years in prison, a year more than his lawyer requested.

“It is frightening beyond belief to imagine oneself in one’s 80s to come home to what you thought was a simple trip to Wal-Mart to find someone in your home,” Gorman said before announcing Austin’s punishment.

Austin, of Bartlett Street, broke into the Stevens Street home of Rene and Angeline Bosse on Aug. 25.

The elderly couple returned from shopping to find him in their bedroom. They made eye contact, then Austin aimed a silver revolver at them and threatened to shoot if they didn’t do what he said.

After he left the room, the couple decided to climb out of their bedroom window, jump 8 feet to the ground and run to a neighbor’s house. They both survived the fall without injury.

Austin was arrested days later.

Mental problems

A 36-year-old father of two, he pleaded guilty last month to two counts of robbery and one count of burglary. His sentencing was postponed to allow time for a psychological examination.

Arguing for a shorter prison sentence, Austin’s lawyer, Allan Lobozzo, told Justice Gorman on Tuesday that Austin used to lead a productive life.

He was married. He owned his own home, and he had a good job as an operations coordinator for Hannaford.

“Then, in 1998, his personal life started to unravel,” Lobozzo said.

Austin suffers from post-traumatic stress and substance abuse addiction. According to his lawyer, those problems have been at the root of his criminal behavior.

In addition to the charges last summer, Austin’s criminal record includes convictions for assault, terrorizing and another burglary.

“For the past seven or eight years, I couldn’t control my psychological problems,” Austin told the judge. “I never intended to hurt anybody. I just hope that some time in their life Mr. and Mrs. Bosse can forgive me for what I’ve done to them.”

Four years

The state wanted Austin to spend five years in prison, followed by three years of probation. Lobozzo asked for three years behind bars.

“He’s been thinking long and hard about his actions,” Lobozzo said. “He wants to address his problems with new clarity and vigor.”

In the end, Gorman met the two sides in the middle with a four-year prison sentence followed by three years of probation.

“This was not precisely a burglary gone bad,” the judge said. “Mr. Austin didn’t just flee. He used the opportunity to threaten and frighten.”

As conditions of probation, Austin was ordered to pay $1,450 to the Bosses’ insurance company, and he will have to receive treatment for his mental-health problems.