MOUNT VERNON — Prison time for a Mount Vernon man jumped an additional five years after being sentence in the Knox County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday.

According to Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher, Michael V. Bessette Jr., 26, will serve a total of five years in prison for convictions on charges of forgery, theft by deception, possession of stolen firearms, possession of firearms while under a legal disability, tampering with records, breaking and entering and possession of drugs. Bessette was also convicted of a firearm specification.

Thatcher said in January, Bessette and co-defendant Dale Woody passed checks and sold firearms, in Knox County, stolen during burglaries they committed in Ashland, Franklin, Licking, Pickaway and Richland counties.

Bessette was convicted of tampering with records for using one burglary victim’s driver’s license to obtain a motor vehicle registration and temporary tag.

On July 12 in Licking County, Bessette was sentenced to a prison term of nine years and 10 months for burglary and weapons under disability charges. Bessette is scheduled for sentencing on Friday in Ashland County.

Detectives Craig Feeney and David McElroy, Mount Vernon Police Department, and Detective Sgt. Roger Brown, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, investigated the case.

Allen L. Henderson Jr., 25, was sentenced to a three-year prison term for trafficking in cocaine and possession of a firearm while under a legal disability.

Thatcher said on Dec. 7, 2009, Henderson sold 1.3 grams of cocaine and a 9 mm handgun to a confidential informant during a joint investigation conducted by the MVPD and the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency. Henderson is prohibited from possessing firearms due to a prior aggravated assault conviction.

Detective McElroy, MVPD, investigated the case.