PORTLAND — In a dramatic end to a year-long saga that disgusted a community, U.S. First District Court Judge George Singal Friday morning sentenced Russell Brace to four years in federal prison for stealing $4.6 million in donations to a charitable nonprofit, for his own status and comfort. There was no sympathy in the courtroom for Brace, despite the presence of his wife and family, as even his attorney characterized him already in exile for his abuse of the public trust.

In the end, Brace was characterized as an elderly man who should have known better, but instead chose to maintain an image in a small, well-off community as a generous donor and leader. A man who calculated that his prestige mattered more than the sick and needy.

Brace is to report on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. at the prison facility that the federal Bureau of Prisons selects.

“Don't underestimate the difficulty of federal prison," said Attorney Jay McCloskey, who represented United Mid-Coast Charities from the moment the nonprofit confronted Brace for stealing donations and depositing them into his own personal account at The First. "He'll be lucky to survive."

McCloskey spoke in the hallway following the sentencing that took place in federal district court in Portland. Beside him stood UMCC Treasurer Eric Belley and UMCC President Stephen Crane. Both had spoken before the judge, delivering stinging indictments of their former colleague who had been at UMMC's helm since 1997. For 15 of those years, Brace had moved 377 donation checks intended for the needy into his own coffers at The First.

In 2008, Brace embezzled $305,000 and UMCC distributed but $236,000, said U.S. District Attorney Donald Clark, describing a man who had every advantage of wealth and power and health, and yet used funds intended for hospice, home care and domestic violence for his "own lavish lifestyles."

He stole, said Clark, $470,000 in one year alone, for himself and his family, none of whom were sick, broken or dying.

When confronted, he blamed others and asked to keep it quiet, said Clark, and even set in motion a plan to destroy some evidence.

That evidence, according to Brace's attorney Peter DeTroy, when speaking after the sentencing outside the courthouse, amounted to some notes that Brace wrote after he stood accused of the thefts, as well as some personal effects.

He had asked a cleaning person to trash the bags of notes, but that person declined, and the evidence remained intact, DeTroy said. It was not, DeTroy said, "super-incriminating evidence."

Clark said $1.3 million of the diverted funds remains untraceable, while $200,000 specifically went to Brace's family.

"It is unspeakable," said Clark.

Brace, meanwhile, had stood at the podium at the end of the hearing, speaking strongly and confidently, answering the judge's questions, apologizing, and ultimately saying he should have chosen other paths than stealing from those who are hungry, poor and abused. He said he hoped to return someday to the community.

"Why did you begin stealing money from the charity?" asked Singal.

Brace replied that he had purchased a company from Eastman Kodak, when the Center for Creative Imaging closed its operations in Camden.

Court documents show that Brace had "at his disposal considerable funds he had received from a buyout of his interest in a family business. He invested virtually all of it to acquire and then provide start-up capital for CCI."

He said at the sentencing that he had also at that time opened five photo processing stores (Maine Coast Photo).

"We lost a considerable amount of money," he said, compounded when the market went from film to digital.

The roots of his problem, Brace told the judge, were his poor business investments.

"You started stealing in 1999," said Singal. "What was it then that caused you to start stealing?"

"I honestly can't remember," said Brace.

Singal then quoted Brace's own words, a phrase he often used: "For every problem, there are five solutions."

Singal said: "You didn't want to go through the public humiliation of bankruptcy."

"I would say that's a fair estimation," said Brace.

"What were the alternatives?" asked Singal.

Brace said he was so busy with a failing business that he started diverting funds, and that "began to snowball, and snowball, and snowball."

He added: "I should have thought of other solutions. I didn't even think of them. I should have thought of bankruptcy, of different employers and other solutions that would have been more appropriate."

Singal commented later in the hearing that Brace told the public in 2009 that all the funds at UMCC were spent on those in need.

"Brace knew at the time that he was stealing a significant amount of money," said Signal.

What concerned him more, Singal said, was his prestige in the community. The prestige that came with multiple houses, vacations and schools.

He could have retrenched, and reduced his prestige in the community, and "perhaps lived life like other people."

But bankruptcy would bring "a sense of shame and inadequacy," said Singal. "Being looked up to in the community was something he could not give up."

That sense of shame of being thought of as a less than adequate businessman overrode his sense of shame in stealing from victims who were not concerned about their status. They were more concerned about staying warm and putting food on the table, said Singal.

Brace told the judge, and those in the courtroom, that he accepted "full responsibility" for his crimes and that no one else was involved.

"I am guilty of a naive and costly idea, of which I have deep regrets," he said.

Brace said he had remorse "and a deep sense of guilt." He told Belley and Crane, representing UMCC, that he admired their work to improve the standards of living for the poor and recognized their anger.

"I beg your forgiveness," Brace said.

He said UMCC had accomplished his objectives of helping the poor, and said he "hoped to be accepted back into the community in time."

"I lost your trust," he told UMCC. "I am deeply ashamed for my breach of trust. I can only hope the UMCC vision will not be tarnished. I ask for your support to remain friends of each of you."

He apologized to The First, the bank, he said, that had occupied space in his former office building in downtown Camden.

"My actions caused public censure and internal strife," he said.

Brace then said he had brought grief and sadness to his family, something that "is almost more than I can fathom."

He asked them for their forgiveness.

"I can never apologize enough," he said, adding that he had brought sorrow to his wife, Becky, who has stuck by him.

"A financial hardship will ensue for her," he said.

"I have broken a common moral code and with ethics of which I was raised," he said. "I will continue to work to make a better life for others."

Brace's attorney, Peter DeTroy, said after the sentencing, that the Braces were now living solely on Social Security checks. All of Brace's assets were seized. UMCC received what was in his private bank account soon after a civil suit settlement. That amount, approximately $700,000, had recently been acquired by Brace through family inheritance.

Since then, UMCC has also received $230,000 from the $1.3 million sale of the Brace Building, an 1830s office building in downtown Camden. Approximately $1 million of that sale was tied up in a mortgage, and the money went to the bank.

Additionally, UMCC had settled last spring with The First for an undeclared sum, restitution that was paid to UMCC by an insurance company. That settlement, though declared confidential, is connected to the $1.2 million that Singal told Brace, at his sentencing, to repay Traveler’s Insurance (see box).

UMCC angry

Eric Belley, UMCC treasurer, delivered a victim impact statement at the sentencing, saying: "there are no words to describe the anger I and others in the community felt toward Mr. Brace....

"How many people in our communities went without a meal because the food pantry was unstocked?

"How many people endured the harshest winters without heat because fuel assistance ran dry early in the season?

"How many people contemplated suicide or remained in an abusive relationship for lack of access to proper counseling services?"

Belley said there were far too many victims "who could not be here today because they are busy fulfilling the needs of the community."

He said Brace is the "walking definition of a con man — one who gains the trust, or 'confidence' of his victims in order to manipulate, steal or otherwise prey upon them."

Dollars aside, he said, Brace shattered the public's trust in a beloved local charity.

Crane echoed Belley, adding that Brace had systematically stolen from the rich and the poor, with no discrimination.

"We know that Rusty has been writing to people in the community asking them to write to the court in support of leniency for him," said Crane. "One would have instead expected letters of apology and remorse directed to the community, donors and this organization."

Crane said: "This is a case of someone born and raised in privilege and educated in the best schools, stealing from the most needy in his community. In fact, the court may know it is particularly telling about Rusty's true character that some of the money he stole from UMCC he gave to organizations like Hebron Academy and Dartmouth College, and even to UMCC so that it would enhance his image and reputation as a generous donor."

After the sentencing, Crane and Belley walked quietly out of the courthouse.

"Justice was served," said Belley. "We are comfortable with the judge's decision."

Family looks to hope

Brace's four daughters were in the courtroom, as well as his wife, Becky, and several friends. They sat behind Brace, sometimes hugging each other, sometimes crying.

Pamela Delehey, his youngest daughter, spoke on behalf of the family. She said the "role of Steve and Eric is valid," and that it was her role to speak as a daughter.

His crimes against the community and his family were real, she said. Delehey cited the journey since last September, when Brace first stood accused of his crimes. There was shock, anger, resistance and finally acceptance.

"He was not exactly as I thought he had been my entire life," she said. "But as a father, he was always there for me."

She asked that for the last chapter of his journey that it be one of hope, " so that in the last years, the family will be able to recover."

No sympathy from the U.S. District Attorney

Clark stood before the judge and said Brace had lived a life of privilege. The charities he stole from included the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and Make-A-Wish, as well as smaller ones, such as Meals on Wheels.

"It is the people who did not benefit who ultimately paid," he said.

Of the $4.6 million taken, approximately $1.3 remains untraced, he said.

"He went big from the get-go," said Clark, diverting large amounts of money, even more than what UMCC distributed in given years.

He committed the crimes from age 65 to 80, "when he should have known better."

Sometimes, he said, the sentence has to mostly be about punishment, and he requested a significant sentence to send a message not only to Brace, but to society.

Prison

Singal is recommending that Brace report to a prison with medical facilities. The closest with those services is Federal Medical Center Devens prison, in Devens, Mass.

According to a medical summary included in the court documents, Brace suffers several maladies associated with aging, all controlled with medication. He has undergone knee surgery, and had pneumonia recently, as well as falls. He also struggles with situational depression and anxiety, the doctor's report said.

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