MAN MUST SERVE 3 YEARS FOR SWINDLING HARRISON

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A Cape Girardeau man will go to prison for three years for using deceit to steal over half a million dollars from a 90-year-old philanthropist.

Bradley W. McIntyre was sentenced by Boone County Circuit Judge Frank Conley on Monday after pleading guilty to the class C felony of stealing by deceit, Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said.

McIntyre received $531,000 in checks from B.W. Harrison of Cape Girardeau between June 1998 and December 1999. About a half-million dollars of that was given to McIntyre under the premise that he was studying engineering at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and needed the money for his education, Swingle said.

Defense attorney Scott Reynolds had maintained that only two checks for about $60,000 were written by Harrison specifically for McIntyre's purported college expenses and the rest had been given as gifts and to pay for labor McIntyre performed around Harrison's Cape Girardeau home.

Reynolds had asked the judge to give McIntyre six months in the county jail, Swingle said, but the prosecutor asked the judge to consider the age of the victim and the amount of money taken.

"Either way, it's too high an amount to consider probation or time in the county jail," Swingle said.

A video recorded during police surveillance of McIntyre meeting with Harrison on Dec. 17 last year was significant in finding McIntyre guilty, Swingle said.

As the two men spoke in Harrison's kitchen, McIntyre lied to his benefactor about receiving a 3.8 grade-point average for his last semester in engineering school and how he needed more money to complete his studies.

Police said Harrison refused to give McIntyre any more money at that meeting.

Harrison became suspicious about McIntyre last fall. Harrison had said during a preliminary hearing that he had asked McIntyre several times to give him receipts, but McIntyre said offices were closed whenever he went to get them.

Harrison decided to inquire about him with university officials in Carbondale, Ill. He received a letter from the admissions office stating that McIntyre was not enrolled.

Harrison's money was never recovered. Investigations revealed McIntyre spent it on several cars and perhaps a business, but the cars had since been given away and have become nearly impossible to trace, police said.

McIntyre's only comment after sentencing was that he hoped to put the situation behind him, Swingle said.

McIntyre could have received up to seven years in prison, but Conley followed the prosecutor's recommendation in sentencing.