Michael Evan Leeper was back in court Thursday, as the former Columbia Sportswear manager faced cyber-espionage sentencing for accessing the company's computer system and reading senior executives' emails for more than two years while working for a Seattle technology consulting firm.

A federal prosecutor urged the judge to send Michael Evan Leeper to prison for six months, likening his offense to a "modern-day bank robbery case.''

Leeper's defense lawyer countered, seeking a sentence of probation, calling the crime "an anomaly'' in the 41-year-old's life and said his client already has suffered substantially.

"He has laid to waste a career he spent 20 years building,'' his lawyer Samuel Kauffman told the court.

The victim in the case, Columbia Sportswear, threw the prosecution a curve, writing a letter to support a probation sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford told U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones that Leeper used his "wealth, power and privilege'' to get his former employer to support the lesser sentence as part of a settlement of a civil lawsuit Columbia Sports filed against him.

"The government views that as a shenanigan,'' Bradford said, of Columbia Sportswear's letter in context of the civil settlement.

Leeper left a powerful, high-paying job as senior director of technology infrastructure at Columbia Sportswear, but before he did, he built himself "a back door'' into the company's computer network. He used it for competitive advantage by reading the strategies and personal thoughts of senior Columbia Sportswear executives expressed in their emails from March 2014 through October 2016, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford.

At times, Leeper intercepted emails in real time, Bradford said. The emails he read were from Columbia Sportswear executives working around the world.

Leeper worked for Columbia for 14 years, and when he left had virtually unlimited access to Columbia's computer systems. Leeper quit in March 2014 to join Denali Adavanced Integration, a Seattle technology company and a Columbia Sportswear vendor.

Bradford called Leeper "a savvy, respected technical professional who abused his position of trust at Columbia Sportswear to further his personal agenda.''

Citing Leeper's education, privilege and experience, and nearly $600,000 salary in his last year at Denali, Bradford argued Leeper should not be able "to buy his way out of a prison sentence.''

A sentence of probation, Bradford told the judge, would send the wrong message that "you can hack a $2 billion company for more than two years and not go to jail, and live in your big fat home in Lake Oswego.''

Leeper disputed that he ever fashioned such "back door'' access into Columbia Sportswear's computer system. He contended his login credentials on his MacBook Air were never deactivated, his defense lawyer said.

Leeper should have notified Columbia Sportswear and informed them of the security lapse, Kauffman said.

"Mr. Leeper didn't do that. He used those credentials and he looked,'' Kauffman said. "The primary reason he looked was because he was curious. That's not to minimize his actions.''

Columbia claims it terminated Leeper's regular network account. But the day before he left the company, Leeper created a new account under a false name, according to the government.

Leeper has gone from serving as a chief technology officer at Denali to a stay-at-home dad for his two children, ages 8 and 10, while his wife has returned to work, Kauffman said.

Leeper pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization. He's also paid $34,479 in restitution to Columbia Sportswear, the estimated costs resulting from the investigation and legal expenses.

The payment, though, was part of a larger sum of $100,000 Leeper paid to Columbia Sports to settle the company's civil case alleging breach of loyalty and computer fraud against him. Columbia Sportswear's civil case is still pending against Denali.

"We would be satisfied with a probation sentence,'' said attorney Edward Piper, who attended the hearing as a representative of Columbia Sportswear.

The judge asked if Columbia Sportswear's support of a probationary sentence was due to the civil settlement agreement or if it's what the company feels is a truly appropriate sentence.

"It is a matter that was addressed in the settlement agreement,'' Piper said. Several Columbia Sportswear managers attended the sentencing but chose not to speak.

While Jones said he doesn't want a high-level information technology executive to come to court and get a "slap on the wrist,'' the judge faced an unusual scenario, considering that the victim in the case asked that Leeper not spend time behind bars.

"I don't think six months is going to impress anybody, one way or the other,'' the judge said, of the prosecutor's proposed sentence.

Instead, the judge sentenced Leeper to 400 hours of community IT service as a condition of his three years of probation. He must use his information technology skills to help senior citizens at local adult centers.

"You will be on call to help them with their complaints,'' Jones said. "If there's a computer crash, you'll be there. If they have a problem hooking up, you'll be there.''

"You're to have no luxuries of any kind'' during the three years of probation, but simply be available to support his family and seek alternative work, Jones ordered.

If Leeper violates his conditions of probation, Jones said he'd consider and impose the maximum sentence possible.

After the sentencing, Peter Bragdon, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Columbia Sportswear, issued a statement, saying the company was pleased with the outcome.

"We take any breach of IT systems as an extremely serious matter," he said, "and we are thankful for the great efforts made by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office in Portland to swiftly investigate and resolve this invasion of Columbia's privacy.''

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian