A high-profile member of the Royal Canadian Legion in Nova Scotia has been convicted and sentenced for stealing nearly $5,000 from the Halifax Central Poppy Fund.

But Thomas Peter Waters, 75, said he used the money to buy things for veterans like TV sets and reclining chairs.

Waters pleaded guilty to 11 fraud charges on Oct. 31. Court was told Waters deposited cheques from the Poppy Fund beginning in December 2010 and ending in May 2014.

Waters was originally scheduled to go on trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court beginning on Oct. 30. Instead of the six-day trial, however, Waters re-elected to provincial court the next day and entered the guilty pleas.

He received a nine-month conditional sentence and 12 months of probation and has been ordered to repay the money he stole. The court set up a repayment schedule of $240 a month, beginning today and continuing until July 2019.

Failure to make the payments could land him in jail. Waters was also to pay a $200 victim fine surcharge on each of the 11 charges.

'I had no witnesses'

Waters said he agreed to the plea arrangement because he couldn't afford to keep up the legal fight.

"I got, I call it railroaded, into it because all the other ones that worked with me are passed on and I had no witnesses. So I had to take the brunt of it, so that's how it stood," he said.

Waters is a past president of his local legion branch and has held several positions in the legion's council. He has also been recognized as a fundraiser for veterans' causes and organized Remembrance Day services at the Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Building, part of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre.

Waters said he's been buying things for veterans for 30 years.

Legion relieved

In a statement Wednesday, the executive director of the Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of the legion said the legion is relieved the legal action against Waters is concluded.

"Having received the official court order this [Wednesday] afternoon, the matter may now continue through a formal internal process that deals with theft and or misappropriation of Poppy Trust funds in accordance with the bylaws of The Royal Canadian Legion," Valerie Mitchell-Veinotte said in a statement to CBC News.

Mitchell-Veinotte would not say what that internal process will involve, or what the result may be.