PROVIDENCE -- A federal judge yesterday sentenced former nursing home owner Antonio L. Giordano to 2 1/2 years in prison -- 6 months more than the prosecution recommended -- for diverting money from three nursing homes to his daughter's business.

U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi also fined Giordano $100,000 -- the prosecution had recommended $500,000 --and required him to pay $780,539 in restitution. He will be on probation for two years after his release.

Lisi called Giordano "more culpable" than his co-defendant, John J. Montecalvo, the chief financial officer, whom she sentenced to two years in prison on the same charges, the sentence recommended by the prosecution. She did not fine Montecalvo, saying he didn't have the money.

In a plea agreement in June, Giordano and Montecalvo admitted that over six years, they had spent the nursing homes' money on unnecessary services from the daughter's employee-relations company, even when the nursing homes were in default on federally backed loans and struggling to meet payroll.

"The motivation here was greed," Lisi told Giordano as she sentenced him, "or perhaps taking some pleasure in assisting a family member. We all want to do that, but we do it with our own money, Mr. Giordano, not somebody else's."

Lisi called it "somewhat strange" that the government's plea agreement called for identical two-year sentences for both men. "The facts make the commission of the offense by Mr. Giordano far worse. . . . Ultimately, it was Antonio Giordano at the very head of the corporate enterprise . . . who directed where the money would go."

Lisi said she intended her sentences to deter others who would misuse taxpayers' money. "The system is based on trust," Lisi said, noting that the federal government cannot police the use of every loan it backs. "It can't work any other way. . . . To promote a respect for the law, a message has to be sent to others."

Giordano and Montecalvo are both responsible for paying the restitution, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew J. Reich said that Giordano had pledged to pay the entire amount by early next week. The restitution will be split among receivers for two of the nursing homes and the Internal Revenue Service, for unpaid employment taxes.

Both Giordano and Montecalvo are to report to a yet-to-be-designated federal prison on Oct. 13 by 2 p.m.

Lisi rejected a request by Giordano's lawyer, Donald Stern, to allow Giordano eight weeks before starting his prison sentence, so he could prepare his defense in an upcoming case in state court.

A statewide grand jury last month indicted Giordano and Montecalvo on 45 counts of embezzlement, money laundering and Medicaid fraud in the operation of the Hillside Health Center in Providence. The nursing home, which closed in 2004, became notorious when The Providence Journal reported the case of a patient who developed a life-threatening bed sore after being left for hours lying in her feces.

In addition to Hillside, Giordano owned the Coventry Health Center and the Mount St. Francis Health Center, in Woonsocket. All three nursing homes ended up in receivership, but Coventry and Mount St. Francis now have new owners.

Audits of the three nursing homes had found several million dollars in "questionable" payments to companies associated with Giordano. But the federal criminal charges focused on the $780,539 in payments to My Place, the employee-relations company owned by Giordano's daughter, Mary Gentili.

Reich, the prosecutor, described how Montecalvo dispatched a courier to the nursing homes to collect the checks from Medicaid, the state health program that pays for most nursing home care. Even as the nursing homes were falling into debt, failing to pay taxes on employee wages and unable to afford basic supplies, Montecalvo made sure that My Place got paid.

My Place provided services to boost employee morale, such as raffles, parties and chocolate lollipops inserted into paychecks. Because these services were neither reasonable nor necessary to run the nursing home, spending money on them violated the terms of the nursing homes' mortgages, which were backed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Lisi rejected defense arguments that Montecalvo's age -- 68 -- and his health conditions would make a two-year prison sentence unduly harsh. She agreed with the prosecution that Montecalvo's health problem -- Crohn's disease, an intestinal ailment -- could easily be controlled in prison with medications.

Stern, Giordano's lawyer, said that Giordano accepted the government's recommendation of a two-year sentence, but asked for a fine of only $48,000.

In asking for the maximum $500,000 fine against Giordano, Reich said that Giordano could easily pay it: he has $1 million in equity in his North Kingstown home, which is on the market for $2.8 million, as well as $322,000 in cash and property, $5.5 million in various business holdings and a monthly income of $132,000.

Stern asked the judge to keep in mind Giordano's "good works," which included serving on the advisory board of LaSalle Academy and supervising youngsters making a May breakfast at Hope High School.

Each defendant was given an opportunity to speak before sentencing. Montecalvo, in a slow and sad voice, said, "I did not set out to do wrong, but I did, and I must live with that, and I'm very sorry."

Giordano's comments were briefer and brisker. "I'm extremely sorry for my actions," he said. "I genuinely regret what has occurred."

ffreyer@projo.com / (401) 277-7397