PORTLAND — A Lewiston man will spend more than two years behind bars for threatening a Lewiston woman and her family while using racial slurs.

Charles Barnes submitted photo

U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock sentenced Charles Allen Barnes, 47, on Wednesday to 30 months in prison for transmission of threatening communications in interstate commerce, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

The case stems from Barnes’ Facebook audio message he sent to a friend of the victim, known in court files as K.T., on Aug. 30, 2022.

In the hate-filled message left by Barnes, who is white, intended to be conveyed to the victim, who is Black, he repeatedly called her a “n…..” and a “black bitch,” and threatened to “gut” her, “cut her tongue out,” and kill her, her children or her boyfriend, prosecutors said.

Woodcock concluded the crime was racially motivated, which ratcheted up the sentencing guidelines.

In the message, Barnes said he was parked outside the 32-year-old woman’s apartment and that he was, “waiting for someone to step outside and the first one who does is gonna die … I don’t care if it’s her kid, or her, or her boyfriend. I don’t care … I’m killing me a (racial epithet).”

Later that day, Barnes, who lives in the same Lewiston apartment complex as the victim, was seated in a chair on a strip of grass along a driveway that leads out of the complex to the street.

Barnes had strapped to his belt a sheath that held a large hunting knife. Lewiston police responded to the apartment complex, located Barnes, disarmed him, handcuffed and arrested him on a charge of terrorizing.

The victim’s friend, referred to as D.F., testified Wednesday that Barnes had often used racial slurs in previous unsolicited communications with her and told racist jokes.

She said she had once lived in the same apartment building as he did and that he had friended her on her public Facebook page.

D.F. said she had been friends with the victim for a long time and immediately shared Barnes’ Facebook message with her friend, fearing for the victim’s safety.

Barnes pleaded guilty to the charge in March.

The victim, who provided an impact statement Wednesday through the prosecutor’s victim advocate, said the threatening audio recording had changed her and her family’s life and had made her fearful for her life and the lives of her boyfriend and young daughter and son.

She urged the judge to impose prison time for Barnes, calling his actions “unacceptable.”

Barnes said he was sorry, “for the actions” he took that day, regretted them and wished he could take them back.

He said what he put the victim through was “inexcusable.”

But Woodcock noted that Barnes never apologized to the victim.

“Instead, he talked about himself,” Woodcock said.

He referred to comments Barnes made after his arrest in which he “views himself as a victim of his own crime.”

“There are too many people who harbor racist views about other people,” Woodcock said, and “they harm our society.”

Barnes’ punishment had to, in part, send a message, Woodcock said.

He called the language used by Barnes, “abhorrent” and his actions “disgraceful.”

The racial slur Barnes used dates back to the time of slavery, Woodcock said, adding he couldn’t describe “how morally wrong it is (to use that term) when referring to a fellow citizen.”

Reminding Barnes that Maine fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union Army, Woodcock added: “I have no idea where you get this hatred.”

Woodcock itemized Barnes’ criminal history, citing a dozen convictions that include domestic violence assault.

He said he hoped, in time, Barnes would learn to change his attitude toward women and people “who don’t look like you.”

Woodcock stayed Barnes’ sentence until next month, when he must report to federal prison.

After his release from prison, Barnes will be on supervised release for three years, during which he must get mental health counseling, must not have any firearms or dangerous weapons, including knives and must have no contact with the victim or her family.

Attorney General Aaron Frey filed a civil complaint in April 2023 against Barnes under the Maine Civil Rights Act. The complaint sought a civil injunction prohibiting him from having any contact with the victim or any member of her family and from violating the Maine Civil Rights Act.