Mark Titus also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine and $925,320 in restitution
A former company executive has been sentenced to five years in prison for embezzling nearly $1 million from his ex-employer.
U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle imposed the sentence Wednesday after refusing to allow Mark Titus, former chief operating officer of Garner Services LLC, to withdraw his guilty plea in the case.
Lemelle also ordered Titus to pay a $100,000 fine and $925,320 in restitution to the New Orleans-based construction management company.
Titus had asked Lemelle for permission to withdraw his guilty plea to a conspiracy charge, claiming prosecutors reneged on a verbal agreement not to seek forfeiture of his assets.
His brother-in-law, Dominick Fazzio, also is charged in the case. Titus and Fazzio allegedly conspired to fraudulently bill Garner Services for work that was never performed.
(Copyright 2012 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
