AUGUSTA – A Wilton man has basically lost his right to apply for a driver’s license for the rest of his life, Kennebec County District Attorney Evert Fowle said Tuesday.

Walter Noble, 64, was sentenced to serve six years of a 10-year sentence in state prison and three years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to aggravated operating under the influence, operating after revocation and aggravated operating after habitual offender revocation, Fowle said.

Noble has been convicted of 48 driving-related violations since 1966 and has not been eligible to drive in Maine since 1968.

Noble pleaded guilty on June 14 in Kennebec County Superior Court to his most recent charges which stemmed from a stop by Winthrop police in March. He was charged then with operating under the influence of alcohol and other charges while out on bail pending charges in Franklin County.

“This is one of the harshest sentences for felony OUI imposed by the state of Maine, except for those where there is serious injury or death,” Fowle said.

It was Noble’s 10th operating-under-the influence conviction, he said.

The last time Noble was sentenced in Kennebec County in 2001, it was his ninth conviction for OUI and he was sentenced to the maximum five years at that time, Fowle said.

A new law allows for the maximum sentence of 10 years if there is a prior felony operating under the influence conviction, Fowle said.

Noble was also fined $2,100 and ordered not to use or possess alcohol or drugs. He’s subject to random search and testing and he cannot drive, Fowle said.

Noble’s right to apply for a license and registration was suspended for 10 years, he said.

“I think he’s doing life on an installment plan,” Fowle said.

Noble was sentenced to five years in prison in May on the Franklin County charges after he pleaded guilty two counts of driving after his license had been revoked for being a habitual offender and violating conditions of release. The first two charges each carried five-year sentences and the third carried six months, all to run concurrent.

The Kennebec County and Franklin County sentences will also run concurrent, Fowle said.