LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A former Bullitt County official convicted of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the beneficiaries of estates he was managing was sentenced Monday to spend nearly three years in prison.

U.S. District Court Judge David Hale told John Schmidt "real people were harmed" when he took more than $430,000 over several years, including from a widow's main source of income as well as a man who had to postpone his retirement because of the loss of funds.

Hale sentenced him to 35 months in prison on charges of wire and bank fraud, also ordering him to spend three years on supervised release, perform 100 hours of community service and pay full restitution. 

Schmidt was facing a maximum of 80 years in prison and a $2.5 million fine, for stealing from two separate trusts between September 2014 and January 2019 to use for his own personal expenditures.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Zimdahl asked for a sentence of 41 months in prison, telling the judge that Schmidt "stole from people who were too vulnerable to catch him," while breaching the trust of the court system and the public. 

She accused him of "unnecessary greed," taking the money to make up for missing funds from his law firm while still taking vacations, going golfing and joining a country club. 

Schmidt and his attorneys argued he was depressed, overwhelmed with work and financial hardships and even threatened to kill himself in December 2019, when he went missing for 10 days before checking into Our Lady of Peace in Louisville. 

But attorney Rob Eggert argued he had no other criminal history, was active in his church and received dozens of letters from the community asking the judge for a lenient sentence. 

"He lived an otherwise exemplary life," said Eggert, who requested a sentence  of 27 months in prison. 

Schmidt, 67, addressed some of his victims in the courtroom, apologizing to them, his friends and family as well as the legal community. 

"I am sorry, they deserve better," he said. "I will promise whatever time I have left on this earth I will try to make atonement for my sins."

Schmidt said the money he stole was used to cover up mistakes in his law practice. 

After the sentencing, Hale allowed Schmidt to remain out on bail until he is assigned a prison date. 

Schmidt, a former Bullitt County master commissioner and county public administrator, stole more than $435,000 from the estates, sometimes to pay back money missing from the master commissioner account.

Other times, he stole money to pay back clients he owed money to in his legal practice or just for personal use, according to prosecutors. He has already paid some restitution but still owes about $255,000. 

A master commissioner assists circuit courts, in part, by conducting sales of foreclosed property to satisfy liens, mortgages or claims of ownership. Schmidt had served in that office since he was appointed in 1992. He was quietly removed from that position in 2019. 

A grand jury indicted him May 2 on one count of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. The FBI and Kentucky State Police investigated the case. 

Charges of abuse of public trust and theft filed in state court by Hillview police are still pending.

A court hearing is scheduled in Bullitt County for Jan. 26 on those charges.

Numerous state audits documented missing money — $67,000 in 2005, for example — while a 2011 audit included an agreement that Schmidt would reimburse $52,000 to the master commissioner account, a WDRB investigation found.

Since Schmidt was removed in 2019, two lawsuits filed in Bullitt Circuit Court claim he stole more than $400,000 from estates he was managing.

In 2021, a state commission that oversees court conduct found that Schmidt was guilty of misconduct and had misappropriated $81,000 in proceeds from a foreclosed property.

The litany of audits and other findings raised questions about why Schmidt hadn't faced criminal charges or how he kept a job controlling state funds for decades.

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