A federal judge on Thursday granted a request by former Portland parking manager Ellis K. McCoy to cut short his three-year term of supervised release.

McCoy, sentenced in May 2015, served about one and half years of a two-year prison sentence and then one year and three months of supervision. He was sentenced to three years of supervision out of custody. He now works in retail for Home Depot.

U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez found no justification to continue McCoy's supervision, noting that McCoy is considered a low risk to reoffend. The judge halted the supervision, effective immediately.

"While I find the behavior of Mr. McCoy and his co-defendant unacceptable and also criminal, he has served his debt to society,'' the judge said.

Two months earlier, Hernandez had cut short the supervised release for McCoy's co-defendant, Florida businessman George Levey, who was an executive with Schlumberger Industries and later owned Cale Parking Systems USA Inc.

McCoy, now 67, accepted bribes, including money, travel and entertainment worth almost $200,000, in exchange for steering multimillion-dollar city contracts to the two parking meter businesses over 10 years between 2002 and 2011.

McCoy, representing himself Thursday, again apologized to the court for his offenses. While in prison, McCoy said he served as a teacher who helped 15 inmates pass their General Education Development tests, or GEDs, provided reading instruction to other inmates and volunteered in the library.

He said he took classes as well, receiving a commercial pest applicator license from the Oregon Department of Agriculture and a master gardener certificate from Oregon State University.

He lives in a rental home in Hillsboro and is a member of the First United Church of Christ.

McCoy said he's found it difficult to find work because of his felony record and his age. Since April 21, 2017, he's been working as a retail associate in Home Depot's garden department.

McCoy said his older sister died while he was in prison. This past April, his oldest son – a disabled veteran – took his own life, according to court records. McCoy said he wishes to visit his mother, who lives in Renton, Wash., more frequently.

He pledged to make positive contributions to the community and not commit any other crimes.

McCoy started serving his sentence at the federal prison in Sheridan on July 9, 2015, and was released on Jan. 23, 2017, to a halfway house with home confinement ordered until April 2017, when he began supervised release. Since then, he's had to check in monthly with the federal probation office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Uram objected to the reduction in McCoy's supervision. Uram argued that McCoy doesn't deserve leniency because he minimized or denied some of his crimes, unsuccessfully tried to vacate his sentence and impugned the integrity of his public defender.

"He never truly accepted responsibility for his criminal conduct,'' Uram said.

Levey was sentenced in 2016 to a year and three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He served about 10 months behind bars before his release to a halfway house on Jan. 24, 2017. He stayed at the halfway house for about a month and a half and then was placed on home detention until April 24, 2017. A judge approved Levey's request to stop supervision after a year.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian