A 38-year-old Burlington man has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for two armed robberies in which drugs were stolen from pharmacies.
Authorities say Stephen J. Thompson used a BB gun that looked like a semi-automatic pistol when he held up the Rite-Aid pharmacy on North Avenue in Burlington in May 2006 and McGregor's Pharmacy in South Hero the following month.
He was charged with stealing Oxycontin and other opiate-based drugs.
Thompson had argued for a reduced sentence, saying he had become addicted to opiates following a farm injury in 2001. Judge William Sessions rejected that argument.