PORTLAND — A Lewiston man sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court for armed robbery of a convenience store in Saco will likely be deported back to Ivory Coast after he serves his sentence.

U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Torresen sentenced Max Gbetibouo to 51 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release and restitution of $144.

Gbetibouo, 51, pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to one count of robbery, a felony for which he was facing up to 63 months.

Gbetibouo’s attorney Caleigh Milton was seeking a two-year sentence and Assistant U.S. Attorney Johnathan Nathans argued for the maximum sentence.

Before Torresen handed down the sentence, she explored his history, set forth by Milton in his sentencing memorandum, which chronicled the man’s journey from a boy in a war-torn country to a man struggling with substance use in the United States.

Should Gbetibouo face deportation, Milton said he will not only be unwelcomed by his family, but he may also be considered a traitor for leaving the country as his great-great-uncle Laurent Gbagbo, former president of the Ivory Coast, was struggling to hold power when Gbetibouo last left the country.

Picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2020 and held for nearly three months, Gbetibouo lost his housing and job and returned to drugs after about a decade of sobriety.

On Sept. 19, 2021, Gbetibouo, motivated either by obtaining more drug money or funds for his son’s asthma medication, Torresen read from the memorandum, entered the 775 Portland St. Circle K in Saco with a gun and demanded cash from the clerk.

Milton asked Torresen to consider a 24-month sentence, a far-cry from the minimum of 51 months usually imposed in such cases.

“The need to protect the public from Max is clearly reduced, if not extinguished because upon completion of his prison sentence, he will be deported and barred from returning to the United States,” Milton said.

Nathans said while Gbetibouo proved to be a kind and smart man while not under the influence of drugs, his criminal history proves him to be a danger to the public. When Gbetibouo drew his gun on the cashier, Nathans said, she thought she was going to die.

“In noncontrolled settings, (Gbetibouo) acts out. He’s never killed anyone, but … he does not discriminate who he threatens to kill,” Nathans said.

Gbetibouo spoke briefly during the hearing and expressed his remorse.

“I’d like to apologize to the lady,” Gbetibouo said. “I made a bad decision.”