Former Bermuda Housing Corporation worker Dana Martin, who admitted conning more than $150,000 out of unsuspecting investors, was yesterday handed a creative sentence which included a reparations order, prison time and probation.

Martin, 43, of Home Port Drive, Hamilton will spend a total of three months in prison over a six month period.

His time in prison will alternate on a weekly basis, and he will be allowed to work five days a week and attend counselling sessions for gambling addiction while in custody.

In addition Martin was put on an 18 month probation order and he will be required to fork out all of his earnings while in prison to his victims.

Half of his wages while out of prison will be paid over during the six month period, and, upon completion of his time in prison he will be required to hand over a third of his wages for the rest of the probation period.

The sentence, handed down by Puisne judge Charles-Etta Simmons, is subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Prisons.

At yesterday's hearing the prosecution focused on the fact that Martin's crime had caused one of his victim's to be financially ruined.

Prosecutor Juan Wolffe said that the effect of the crime on the victim was just as serious or even more serious than if it had been a physical injury.

Martin pleaded guilty to five charges of inducing $158,500 out of unsuspecting investors from April 1 to September 14, 1999.

Martin induced Kevin Janzen to invest $25,000 with him after giving a promise or forecast which he knew to be misleading or false.

He also admitted inducing Mr. Janzen to pay him $18,500 by the same means.

And he pleaded guilty to inducing Rosalind Ray to invest $35,000, $20,000 and $60,000 by false or misleading means, in three separate charges.

But Martin denied that between March 31 and September 14, 1999, he signed a BHC purchase order without lawful authority with intent to defraud.

At yesterday's sentencing the court heard that Ms Ray had suffered significantly as a result of Martin's dishonesty.

Mr. Wolffe urged a prison sentence of at least a year, saying that Martin's gambling addiction should not be taken as a mitigating factor.

Ms Ray, who had been financially comfortable before the scam, ended up having to take out more debt to secure a property investment, he said referring to her victim impact statement.

Her house was auctioned off and other property, including a car and a van were repossessed.

Ms Ray went from being a successful businesswoman to a "woman trying to keep her head above water," Mr. Wolffe said.

Ms Ray "clearly had no cushion to fall back on once the $115,000 was taken from her". Martin had returned $20,000 to Ms Ray but that was a "paltry sum" said Mr. Wolffe and should not be considered as mitigation - especially since no further attempt had been made to pay her back since being charged.

Martin's lawyer Elizabeth Christopher argued that recent amendments to the criminal code did allow courts to take addictions and restitution into account when sentencing.

She said her client had a new job as a construction worker, had shown that he could handle financial obligations, had taken steps to correct the situation and was getting professional help for an addiction to gambling.

Justice Simmons said that justice would not be served if Martin did not suffer "some restriction to his liberty" but she also did not want to "interfere with what appears to be some improvement to his lifestyle".

She had originally considered a custodial sentence which would allow Martin to work but did not include an order to repay any of the money back.

But Mr. Wolffe raised the point that such an order offered no comfort to Ms Ray, and said that if Martin was going to be allowed to work while serving a sentence he should be made to pay reparations.

Martin apologised to the court, his family and his victims before sentencing. "If I was to address you nine months ago, I would have said there was nothing to live for, but Turning Point has turned my life around."

He vowed to help other gambling addicts. "In a way we all go through the same things with this disease - and it is a disease."

"I'm not impressed," said Rosalind Ray when asked her reaction to the sentencing."It does very little to relieve the problems that I'm having."

Martin, who has to return to court on Friday to sign the probation order before beginning his sentence, said he was "grateful for the opportunity to make things right".