A former Columbus officer who stole military-surplus equipment from the Police Division will serve 2 1/2 years in prison, a federal judge decided today. U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson also ordered Steven E. Dean, 50, to forfeit $118,000 in assets.

Calling him �a good man who did wrong things,� the attorney for a former Columbus officer who stole Police Division equipment cried yesterday as he told a federal judge about his client.

�I care about this man,� attorney Terry K. Sherman said, his voice breaking as he stood beside Steven E. Dean in U.S. District Court in Columbus. �This saddens me more than I can tell you.�

A short time later, Judge Michael H. Watson sentenced Dean to 2 1/2 years in prison and ordered him to forfeit $118,000 in assets.

Dean, 50, of the North Side, pleaded guilty in February to one count of embezzling and one count of stealing federal property.

A police officer for more than 20 years, Dean was the head of a Police Division program that obtained equipment no longer needed by the military and repurposed it for police use.

An investigation found that Dean took some equipment for himself, gave some to friends and scrapped some, pocketing the proceeds. That included motorized construction equipment and vehicles, restaurant equipment, scrap metal, generators and other materials.

Sherman told Watson that he had known Dean for 20 years and had always found him to be an honorable, dedicated officer. Sherman has been an attorney for 42 years and has had numerous law-enforcement clients. He said he believes that long-denied abuse during Dean�s childhood may have contributed to his illegal behavior.

The only statement Dean made was to say, �I�m sorry, sir,� to the judge.

He has been in jail since November, when he was charged with threatening his then-attorney, Mark Collins. Under a plea agreement, those charges were dropped.

Dean�s wife was in the courtroom but would not comment after the sentencing.

The sentencing hearing began on Wednesday and was continued until yesterday after Sherman objected to a presentence report that said Dean had impeded the investigation when police questioned him. The judge did not make a finding on the obstruction claim.

Sherman had argued for a two-year prison sentence for Dean. But after Wednesday�s hearing, he and Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas W. Squires agreed to recommend the 21/2-year sentence to Watson.

Dean �accepts full responsibility for his actions and is extremely remorseful for his behavior,� Sherman wrote in a sentencing memorandum. He said that Dean already has been punished by spending 10 months in jail in isolation with untreated medical conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, depression and chest pain.

�If inflicting pain and suffering is an objective of our criminal justice system, it is suggested that the 10 months in the Franklin County Correction Center has provided Mr. Dean with enough pain and suffering to last a lifetime,� Sherman wrote.

Squires had recommended a 33-month sentence. He wrote in court documents that Dean had �grabbed everything he could� to enrich himself and to curry favor �within the department for himself and others and with other agencies as he played Santa Claus with the valuable items he obtained.�

Dean lied and impeded the investigation by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, part of the Department of Defense, and the FBI, Squires said.

The government will attempt to obtain some of the forfeiture from Dean�s pension and deferred compensation, Squires said. Investigators believe that Dean�s profit in cash and equipment from the scheme was about $244,000. Equipment worth nearly $127,000 has been recovered.

No one else has been charged in the case. One other officer had been investigated, as well as a city custodian.

Squires said records regarding the custodian, Frank Burton, have been turned over to Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O�Brien for further investigation. Burton told police that he had helped Dean scrap metal from military computers. He said he kept $30,000 to $40,000 of the profits himself and gave the rest to Dean.

O�Brien said on Thursday that his office has been working with Burton�s attorney on a resolution.

kgray@dispatch.com

@reporterkathy