MIDDLEBURG - Kurt J. Keiper will be eligible for parole in about 10 years for admittedly stealing more than $500,000 from people across North America, but he’ll remain locked up until it’s all paid back if a Snyder County judge has his way.
Keiper, 41, of Middleburg, admitted scamming more than a dozen people out of $501,580 for vehicles he never delivered.
It’s not his first brush with the law. He’s been charged with similar offenses in other communities dating back 10 years.
Realizing he was facing a lengthy prison time after admitting his most recent crimes in Judge Michael Sholley’s courtroom in late January, Keiper fled the state and remained on the lam until September when authorities nabbed him living under an assumed name in Durango, Colo.
At Keiper’s sentencing Wednesday, Sholley imposed a 12 1/2-year to 78-year state prison sentence for 16 counts, including 13 felony theft charges.
The judge added in his court order a recommendation Keiper not be released on parole until all of the money he stole was repaid to his many victims.
Pleased with the sentence, District Attorney Michael Piecuch said Sholley “was obviously thinking ahead and wants future parole boards to know if he’s not on the bench what his recommendation is.”
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