A federal judge on Monday sentenced Kenji Ingram, 45, to 27 months in federal prison after he admitted to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In May, Ingram formally admitted that when police found him sitting on a bench on Allstate Road at the South Bay Mall in Dorchester, talking to a woman, around 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 7, 2020, he had a Charter Arms .44 Caliber Special Bulldog Pug, stolen in Indiana in 1997, loaded with five rounds of .44 Smith & Wesson ammunition, in his waistband.

Boston Police and the US Marshal's Service had been looking for Ingram for violating parole for the five years he had served for firing several rounds into his former girlfriend's grandmother's house in Providence in 2013 - by getting arrested for allegedly having a loaded firearm, marijuana and "cocaine residue" in his Dorchester apartment.

According to a court filing by the US Attorney's office, Ingram at first told police he'd been about to call them, because he'd just found the gun in a nearby trash can. At booking, he told officers he'd found the gun while walking from a nearby Dunkin' Donuts to the mall.

"The subsequent investigation, including camera footage from the area (including the trash and other areas around the Dunkin’ Donuts) found no evidence to support Defendant’s claim.

"Asked if he had a license to carry in Massachusetts, Defendant responded 'why would I have a license to carry if I can't have a gun.' "

Prosecutors had asked US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor for 30 months:

"The nature and circumstances of Defendant's crime are extraordinary and demand a significant sentence. Defendant possessed a loaded firearm in broad daylight in a busy commercial shopping area, not only while on pretrial release and electronic monitoring for state firearm and drugs charges, but also while on probation for his violent felony assault conviction after having just served over five years in prison for such.

"Defendant knew that what he was doing was illegal, and he did it anyways. There is perhaps no clearer illustration of this than Defendant's own words to law enforcement: "why would I have a license to carry if I can't have a gun." Yet knowing he was legally prohibited from possessing a gun, Defendant chose to calmly sit on a bench in the middle of a busy commercial shopping center with a loaded firearm concealed in his waistband, thereby seriously endangering numerous innocent bystanders. Actions speak louder than words, and Defendant's claims that he was "about to call" law enforcement to report that he had "found" a firearm simply do not hold water, let alone that they are entirely unsupported by the evidence and legally irrelevant. The danger Defendant poses to the community cannot be overstated."

Ingram caught a break with the Dorchester gun and drug charges: In May, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office moved to dismiss them because the drugs had been tested at the state lab in Jamaica Plain by infamous state chemist Annie Dookhan.