Bernard McAllister, who pleaded guilty in state Superior Court last week to committing dozens of residential burglaries throughout the state, entered a guilty plea in federal court Thursday to possession of firearms by a previously convicted felon.

McAllister, 42, of Lisbon, considered an Armed Career Criminal by the government because of his previous convictions, faces 15 years to life in prison when U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill sentences him on Aug. 29 in Bridgeport.

McAllister is expected to be sentenced to 16 years in prison in September in the state case. His attorneys are requesting that the court order the state and federal sentences to run concurrently, and the government has said in a plea agreement that it would not oppose the request. Under federal law, McAllister will be required to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.

McAllister and Mark Missino of Waterford were arrested in November 2010 after East Lyme police caught them fleeing from a storage unit containing more than 8,000 stolen items. State prosecutors charged them with burglarizing dozens of homes from Stonington to Greenwich between 2008 and 2010. After he was arrested, McAllister admitted he had been planning to leave the country, according to authorities.

The federal government charged the two men with possession of 19 stolen firearms, including long guns, revolvers and semi-automatic pistols that were found in the storage locker. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.

Prior to his most recent arrest, McAllister had been convicted of multiple felony offenses Connecticut, New Jersey, Arkansas and Pennsylvania, including burglary, robbery, breaking and entering, and making threats with intent to terrorize another, according to court documents.

Missino's federal case is headed for trial in August, and he is also on the trial list in state Superior Court. Both men are being held in state prisons while their cases are pending.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Connecticut State Police, the Massachusetts State Police, and the East Lyme, Greenwich, Madison, Guilford, Glastonbury, North Branford and Wallingford police departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan S. Freimann and Robert M. Spector are prosecuting.