Judge Conti disagreed and found that the tapes were evidence that Detelich had obstructed justice, which increased the sentencing guidelines.

“It’s hard to digest, after all the good you have done, how you could have engaged in those conversations,” she said.

Detelich “used” his employees for personal gain, preyed on their sense of loyalty and vulnerability, and exposed them to conduct they probably would not have engaged in if he had not initiated the scheme, Judge Conti said.

Sentencing guidelines recommended a prison term of 41 to 51 months. Judge Conti said she credited Detelich for the good he has done in cutting five months off the sentence.

She also determined that Detelich, although he has been making $200,000 to $300,000 a year since 2002 in consulting work, has no ability to pay all or part of a fine, so she waived the fine. Detelich still has to pay $91,025 in restitution to Highmark.

Following his release from prison, Detelich will serve 2 years’ supervised release.

Prior to sentencing, Detelich expressed no regrets for having gone through a legal battle that caused him to sell off most of his business interests to pay attorney’s fees, and refused to distance himself from the unsavory aspects of his past.

“I have felt the entire impact of all my actions, good and bad,” he said.

He said the things is has done that he is proud of and those he is ashamed of have helped form the person he is today.

Detelich laid bare his failings and recovery in detail through personal documents and 28 letters from family members and friends provided to the judge, and the testimony of eight, most of whom left the witness box in tears as they pleaded for the judge to show mercy.

Detelich’s parents, James Detelich, Marina Del Ray, Calif., and Barbara Bartolon, Adamsville, still smarting from the January death of their 36-year-old son, Blair, after two decades of drug and alcohol abuse, openly admitted failings on their part that they believe led to Brent Detelich’s drug and alcohol abuse, womanizing and sordid behavior in 1995-99.

They also marveled at his turnaround since then, and wondered where the strength to pull it off came from.

“He has been more of a father to me than I was to him,” James Detelich said.

“Brent’s my son, he’s my friend, he’s my confidante, he’s my teacher,” Mrs. Bartolon said.

“He’s a very wise person,” she said. “There’s nothing he would tell me to do I would think twice about.”