BANGOR (AP) – A Brewer man whose criminal history includes more than 50 convictions has been handed a five-year prison term for drunken driving.

Stephen Faulcon, 46, pleaded guilty in September to operating under the influence and other charges arising from two drunken driving arrests in Bangor in 2003. He also pleaded guilty to similar charges arising from an OUI arrest in Augusta.

On Tuesday, Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm sentenced Faulcon to 10 years, with five years suspended. The judge also imposed fines totaling $6,400 and ordered Faulcon placed on four years’ probation following his release.

“This is one of the worst driving histories I’ve ever seen,” Penobscot County Deputy District Attorney Michael Roberts told the court. “He had six habitual offender convictions between 1989 and 2000. … Mr. Faulcon is playing Russian roulette with the public every time he drives drunk.”

A person convicted of three serious motor vehicle offenses such as drunken driving is considered a habitual offender. Faulcon’s record includes numerous other driving-related convictions, assaults and theft.

While Roberts sought a 10-year sentence, Faulcon asked for mercy, telling the judge that he turned his life around while being held in the Penobscot County Jail since November 2003 for violating bail conditions of his arrest three months earlier.

“My incarceration has been a blessing in disguise,” he said, noting that he has remained sober for a year. “My passion now is to reach out to others.”

Hjelm denied defense counsel Leonard Sharon’s request to stay imposition of sentence to allow Faulcon to resume his roofing business and earn money to pay his fines.