HEARING SET FOR PHILANTHROPIST'S SWINDLER

The man sentenced to prison in September for swindling Cape Girardeau philanthropist B.W. Harrison will have his first parole hearing today.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said he expects it to be a routine hearing held to set Bradley W. McIntyre's conditional release date.

McIntyre was sentenced to three years in prison on Sept. 18 after admitting to deceiving Harrison into writing him checks amounting to $56,000.

Swingle alleged Harrison actually gave McIntyre more than half a million dollars, but he only had to prove the amount was more than $750 to get a conviction for the Class C felony of stealing by deceit.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections Victim Services office said someone sentenced to three years is eligible for a parole hearing as soon as one can be set up after entering prison.

The hearing will be held today at the South Central Correctional Center in Licking, Mo., where McIntyre is serving his sentence.

Under the deception that he was a student at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Ill., McIntyre received more than $531,000 in checks from Harrison during 1998 and 1999 to help pay for his education and other expenses. McIntyre was not a student at the university.

The 90-year-old Harrison is well-known as a philanthropist, having given Southeast Missouri State University enough Exxon stock to buy Old St. Vincent's Seminary, which the university plans to turn into its River Campus.

Money not recovered

Both Swingle and Harrison have asked the Board of Probation and Parole to deny McIntyre's parole in letters sent in advance of today's hearing.

In requesting the parole be denied, Swingle wrote: "Please take into account that Bradley W. McIntyre's crime was particularly despicable because he was preying upon an elderly man."

Swingle told the board that authorities have been unable to recover the stolen money or get restitution through the criminal system.

"I know you have a lot of discretion in determining parole dates," Swingle wrote. "I hope you will keep Bradley McIntyre behind bars for a large percentage of this three-year sentence."

Swingle said people like McIntyre who have not been imprisoned previously usually serves about one-third of their sentences unless they have committed one of the "seven deadly sins" -- murder, forcible rape, forcible sodomy, first-degree robbery, first-degree assault, first-degree arson or kidnapping. An 85 percent rule applies for those crimes for a first offense.

The percentage of the sentence served for other crimes increases from one-third to 40, 60 or 80 percent depending on the number of times the convicted person has been to prison before.

McIntyre previously was convicted of felony perjury but never served any time.

He will be present at today's hearing.

John Bradshaw, Harrison's attorney, said the winter storm enveloping the state makes it impossible for his client to attend the hearing. Bradshaw wants to set up a phone interview with the parole board, so they know Harrison wants McIntyre kept in jail as long as possible, Bradshaw said.

Swingle said Harrison wants McIntyre to remain in jail to prevent him from taking advantage of other elderly people.

McIntyre's attorney, Scott Reynolds, had no comment on the parole hearing.