A former O'ahu senior probation officer was sentenced to 90 days in jail yesterday for stealing $23,800 in court-ordered fines and restitution that he received from his probationers but did not turn over to the court.

Freddie Esperanza, 59, who was released from his job in 2003, was sentenced by Circuit Judge Derrick Chan to five years' probation and the jail term. The judge also ordered Esperanza to pay the state $21,300, the net of the $23,800 minus $2,500 he already paid in restitution.

Esperanza had asked for a chance to defer his guilty plea to the first-degree theft charge to give him a chance to get the case dropped, but Chan denied the request and issued the sentence.

More than 70 probationers paid Esperanza cash for court-ordered fines and restitution from October 1993 to November 2002, but he kept the money rather than giving it to the court, state prosecutors said.

"I hope this sends a clear message that the state will not tolerate the abuse of positions of trust," Attorney General Mark Bennett said.