YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The man dubbed the Amish Bernie Madoff tried to disassociate himself from the notorious New York City swindler Wednesday, but a federal judge didn’t buy it.

U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson rejected Monroe Beachy’s request to serve a term of home confinement, and instead ordered him to spend 6 ½ years behind bars, followed by a year of probation, for bilking investors out of millions of dollars.

Pearson acknowledged receiving letters from nearly 75 investors and members of the Amish community asking her to allow the religious community to resolve their issues with Beachy outside of court. But the judge said she was required to differentiate between religious and secular laws.

"You must be punished for what you did under federal guidelines," she told Beachy. "There can be no carve-out because you belong to a religious community that I respect."

The 78-year-old Sugarcreek investment broker pleaded guilty in March to defrauding 2,700 clients of an estimated $16.8 million. He could have received from 12 1/2 to 15 1/2 years in prison, according to federal sentencing guidelines.

Prosecutors contended that, from 1990 to 2010, Beachy raised an estimated $33 million from an estimated 3,200 investors from 29 states. Many of the investors were from the Amish communities in Holmes and Tuscarawas counties.

Included among his victims were widows and retirees, children, a Mennonite church, a school cookbook fund, and the Amish Helping Fund, a nonprofit that makes real estate loans in an effort to preserve the Amish way of life. Beachy was the Helping Fund’s treasurer.

Beachy assured the investors their money was safe, and sent them hand-written monthly statements that showed stable accounts and high interest earned, according to prosecutors. But his investments actually were crashing, and by 1998 he had lost millions in risky stocks, mutual funds and junk bonds.

"This was fraud on a massive scale," said U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach. "This defendant took advantage of people’s trust in him and squandered the life savings of hundreds upon hundreds of families."

Pearson questioned Beachy during the hour-long hearing, asking why he hadn’t simply informed his clients that he lost their investments, and avoided committing a crime of fraud.

"There were losses from a broker who misled me," Beachy said. "I should have cut him off, but he assured me that in time we would recover and recoup the losses."

Beachy told the judge he has confessed his sins to God and his church, and he sent letters to every investor seeking their forgiveness. Only two wrote back asking the judge to sentence Beachy to prison. The other 75 said it was more important for them to forgive Beachy than to recover their lost money.

"While the unusual nature of the offense is noteworthy, so too is the reaction of the victims," said defense lawyer Gerry Ingram.

Ingram objected to the comparisons to Madoff, noting that Beachy never diverted his clients’ money to his own benefit, and he continues to live a modest lifestyle in a farmhouse in Tuscarawas County. He described Beachy as aged and infirm, devoted to his wife of 55 years, his five children, 16 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.

"The Bernie Madoffs of the world spend for their own enjoyment other people’s money," Ingram said. "The defendant’s lack of a personal profit motive compels that this case be treated differently than the typical fraud prosecution."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Barr asked the judge to reject Beachy’s claim he hadn’t operated a typical Madoff-like Ponzi scheme.

"While there is no evidence the defendant himself gained financially from this fraudulent scheme, such a factor does not necessarily make this case any less or more typical than other fraudulent investment schemes which have been rife in recent years," Barr said.