A 32-year-old Salt Lake man, who police believed faked his own disappearance last year, was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for embezzling more than $185,000 from two companies beginning in 2002.

Donald Wilkerson, attorney for Kenneth Peters Jr., said the bookkeeper had a gambling problem that led him to steal money from Hawaii Flight School.

Peters was fired from that job, went to work for Studio Becker, an interior design firm, and embezzled more money that he gambled away in hopes of recouping the earlier losses, Wilkerson said.

"He essentially threw good money after bad," Wilkerson said.

He said the fact that Peters keep embezzling money and gambling it away even though he knew police were investigating him is an indication of how severe Peters' gambling problem was. He asked Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall to sentence Peters to no more than probation, saying he would be in a better position to repay the two companies he stole the money from if he were not sent to prison.

But city deputy prosecutor Christopher Van Marter told Crandall that Peters was granted probation following a conviction on the Big Island stemming from a 1993 case in which he embezzled from the former Liberty House department store.

Van Marter said most embezzlers are convicted of that kind of crime only once and don't do it again. He said Peters began embezzling money from the flight school in 2003. Peters went to work for Studio Becker in 2004 after losing his job at the flight school, and began embezzling money from that company as well even though he knew police were investigating him, Van Marter said.

The gambling argument didn't even surface until two days ago and has not been substantiated in court. Even if it could be proved, it should not be accepted as an excuse for Peters' actions, Van Marter said.

Peters had not shown any remorse nor announced any plans to repay the two companies, Van Marter told the judge.

He asked Crandall to sentence Peters to consecutive prison terms in the two cases, which would have left him facing up to 20 years behind bars.

In his very brief remarks to the court, Peters apologized for his actions and directly to the owners of the two companies.

He was under criminal investigation for the offenses when his car was discovered on March 22, 2005, on a hillside below the Makapu'u Lookout, triggering an extensive search for him. He was found three days later at Honolulu International Airport while returning from Bangkok, Thailand.

Crandall sentenced Peters to concurrent terms in prison of up to 10 years. She said her decision was based in part on Peters taking responsibility for his actions by pleading no contest to the nearly three dozen charges against him and cooperating with police in their investigation of the two theft cases. The Hawaii Paroling Authority will decide how much of the 10-year-sentence Peters must serve before he becomes eligible for parole.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.