A Southport man checked into Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset April 11 to serve 60 days for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Cuckolds Fog Signal and Light Station Council.

The sentence Joseph Krulis, 58, received in York County Superior Court earlier in the day goes along with the terms a prosecutor recommended when Krulis pleaded guilty February 4.

Although it was a Lincoln County case, sentencing took place in York County so the judge who heard the plea could preside. Sentencing was put off the day of the plea so that Cuckolds representatives could attend.

At last week's hearing, Justice Paul Fritzsche sentenced Krulis to serve two months of a five-year sentence, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wright said April 16.

The former acting Cuckolds treasurer will be on probation two years, and has to abide by an earlier deal with the Cuckolds organization to repay it $375,000, Wright said.

“It's unfortunate for somebody to financially exploit a charitable organization,” Wright said of the crime that has made Krulis a felon.

Failure to abide by the restitution agreement could be grounds for a probation violation, Wright said.

In February, Wright dropped an identical theft charge against a second man, Todd Park Merolla, 65, of Southport.

Because Krulis took full responsibility for the theft, it would have been hard to prove Merolla was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, Wright said.

To date, about $140,000 in restitution has been met through the sale of items Krulis and Merolla have turned over, including boats, antiques, artwork and a piano, a lawyer for the Cuckolds organization said April 16.

Attorney Steven Richardson said a $170,000 mortgage on a Southport home was also part of the arrangement. However, two banks also hold mortgages on the property, so it is not yet known what the organization will receive from any sale, Richardson said.

Richardson praised the work of prosecutor Wright and a victim-witness advocate in the district attorney's office, Chastity Krah-Hagar.

Krulis and Merolla pleaded not guilty in November 2012 to one Class B charge each of theft by unauthorized taking of more than $10,000, from December 1, 2009, to September 2, 2011.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.