MISSOULA (AP) -- The county's former airport director was sentenced to 10 years in prison for embezzling $645,000 in airport funds for his personal use.
John Seymour, 47, was still and silent as his sentence was read Monday in District Court, much the way he had been throughout the emotional two-hour hearing. Friends and family called him a terribly depressed and withdrawn man, whom some feared was suicidal and who had spent months alone in a dark room with blankets over his head.
''He has inflicted on himself more punishment than a court could possibly do,'' said Loren Evans, Seymour's father-in-law and a renowned veterinarian and University of Pennsylvania professor.
Seymour pleaded guilty in March to four felonies and two misdemeanors in the case. On Monday, he received four 10-year prison terms, one for each felony, and two six-month jail terms, but all but the first prison term suspended.
Seymour's attorney, Milt Datsopolous, had asked for a 12-year sentence with seven years suspended, but McLean said he gave Seymour the tougher sentence because of the money embezzled ''while you were perhaps the highest paid employee in Missoula County,'' he said.
Seymour started his scheme without weeks of taking the director's job at the airport in 1999 after 17 years as an employee there. An accountant noticed the missing money last November.
The airport suspended Seymour late last year. Since then, he has paid more than $628,000 in restitution to the Missoula Airport Authority, resigned his position and agreed not to pursue any claim against the airport for accrued benefits.
The airport is asking for an additional $125,201 in restitution for legal fees and other costs accrued as a result of Seymour's theft. At least one more hearing is scheduled on that request.
Eight witnesses spoke on Seymour's behalf during the hearing. Tears streamed down the faces of his daughter and nieces during testimony by Seymour's younger brother and when a letter from his sister was read in court.
District Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg called no witnesses, and reminded the court that Seymour did not immediately take full responsibility for his actions and that the case has not ruined him financially. Seymour's net worth remains at more than $400,000, Van Valkenburg said.
''Prison won't end his life,'' Van Valkenburg said. ''If someone violates the public trust, he should pay the price.''
Seymour apologized and said he accepted the consequences of his actions.
