ROCKLAND — A 20-year-old South Thomaston man who provided alcohol and drugs to two female teenagers will serve 16 months in prison. The two girls were put on life support for alcohol poisoning in February 2016.

Ryan Newbert was sentenced Dec. 28 by Justice William Stokes in Knox County Unified Court to a sentence of four and a half years in prison with all but 16 months suspended, two years of probation and 100 hours of community service after his release.

Newbert pleaded guilty in July 2016 to two counts of furnishing liquor to minors and two counts of aggravated unlawful furnishing of scheduled drugs.

Newbert's grandmother, Brenda Shepard, 64, of Rockland, who purchased the vodka for her grandson, pleaded guilty in October 2016 to two counts of furnishing liquor to minors.

After Newbert and Shepard pleaded guilty, they were both placed on deferred dispositions for one year. If they complied with all of the conditions of their deferred dispositions, their felony crimes would be reduced to misdeameanors, according to the court documents.

The conditions of the deferred disposition included not using or possessing any alcohol or illegal drugs, random searches, and no contact with the victims. Additionally, they both had to undergo substance abuse and mental health counseling and participate with the Restorative Justice Project.

Newbert violated his conditions of release in November 2016 and did not meet the terms of his deferred disposition agreement, according to the court documents. If he had successfully met the conditions of the agreement for the 12 months, his sentence would have been 364 days in jail with all but five months suspended and one year of probation.

If Shepard meets the terms of her deferred disposition agreement, she will not be convicted of a felony, but of a misdemeanor, and serve no more than 90 days in jail.

According to the court documents, Rockland Police officer William Smith responded to a call about a man witnessing what appeared to be an unconscious female "being stuffed into a car" near a Dunkin Donuts before it sped off traveling northbound on Main Street in Rockland. Smith located and stopped the vehicle on Camden Street and immediately noticed two unconscious females in the back seat. Rockland EMS transported the girls to Pen Bay Medical Center where they were put on life support before being flown via LifeFlight to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

On March 1, Detective Joel Neal interviewed the victims at Maine Medical. They told Neal that they went to Newbert's apartment to "hang out" and both snorted a crushed lorazapam which he later admitted to police that he provided to the girls, according to the police affidavit.

Newbert then spoke to his grandmother, Brenda Shepard, 63, of Rockland, about purchasing the alcohol. The store video at Hannaford confirmed that Newbert and Shepard entered the store together where he selected the half-gallon of vodka and she made the purchase.

The girls told Neal they were drinking vodka with Newbert and ended up at Lucia Beach State Park in Owls Head. They said they continued drinking the vodka and do not remember anything after that, according to the police affidavit.

When Neal interviewed Shepard, she initially denied being involved in the incident, but quickly changed her story and admitted that she purchased the alcohol with Newbert, according to the police affidavit.

Newbert had checked himself into a rehabilitation program shortly after the incident and police were unable to communicate with him during that time, said the court documents. When police interviewed Newbert April 18, he admitted to providing the alcohol and lorazapam for the girls. Newbert was then arrested by police and transported to the Knox County Jail.

Rockland Police Sgt. Don Finnegan said in an earlier press release that both victims were successfully treated and were doing well.

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbaypilot.com