Donald Wilkerson, attorney for bookkeeper Kenneth Peters Jr., said Peters had a gambling problem that led him to steal money from Hawaii Flight School.

Peters was fired from that job, went to work for Studio Becker, an interior design firm, and embezzled more money that he gambled away in hopes of recouping the earlier losses, Wilkerson said.

He asked Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall to sentence Peters to probation, saying he would be in a better position to repay the two companies he stole the money from if he were not sent to prison.

But city Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Van Marter told Crandall that Peters was granted probation following a conviction on the Big Island stemming from a 1993 case in which he embezzled money from the former Liberty House department store.

Van Marter said most embezzlers are convicted of the crime only once and don't do it again. He said Peters began embezzling money from the flight school in 2003. Peters then went to work for Studio Becker, an interior design firm, in 2004 after losing his job at the flight school, and began embezzling money from that company as well even though he knew police were investigating him, Van Marter said.

Peters was under criminal investigation for the offenses when his car was discovered on March 22, 2005, on a hillside below the Makapu'u Lookout, triggering an extensive search for him. He was found three days later at Honolulu International Airport returning from Bangkok, Thailand.

Peters had not shown any remorse nor had he announced any plans to repay the two companies, Van Marter told the judge.

He asked Crandall to sentence Peters to consecutive prison terms in the two cases, which would have left him facing up to 20 years behind bars.