Apparently, sometimes crime does pay. Sort of.

Todd Rice -- a 34-year-old Helena man who worked in conjunction with a local mortgage broker to falsify documents that allowed him to buy four houses with no down payment -- was sentenced Thursday in federal court to a one-year prison term and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine.

Still, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Charles Lovell let Rice retain ownership in the three homes he has since refinanced and still owns.

Those three homes now have a fair-market value totaling $300,000 more than the purchase price. Rice sold the fourth for an undisclosed amount and paid off the mortgage.

Prosecutor Betsy Horsman had asked the judge to force the sale of the homes so Rice wouldn't profit from his crimes.

"If the defendant is allowed to continue to pay on the properties, he's continuing to benefit from his crime," Horsman argued. "It seems wholly inappropriate."

But Wendy Holton, Rice's attorney, argued that the only one to benefit from the forced sale would be a new purchaser who could buy the properties for "fire sale" prices.

Holton noted that while her client seems to be doing well financially, he came from a difficult background, suffered from severe learning disabilities, worked hard and lives like a pauper.

She added that all of the loans are in good standing and Rice is managing the properties as a landlord. Holton urged the judge to only put Rice on probation so he could continue to make a better life and pay off his debts.

"Even in the worst-case scenario here, no one is at risk," Holton said. "If he's incarcerated, he has no way to manage that property and keep those bills paid.

"He may have a lot of assets, but he certainly has no cash flow, and I ask you to keep that in mind."

Lovell said it was obvious in this case that Rice profited greatly as a result of his fraud and illegal activities, while he also exposed lenders to a high level of risk.

"You are a walking example to the public that crime does pay, unless the court imposes a sentence that negates that conclusion by the public," Lovell said in handing down the one-year sentence and fine.

He did allow Rice to "self-surrender," which means he will be taken into custody when contacted by federal prison officials.

Lovell gave a stiffer sentence to the mortgage broker, Scott Hilgers, 34, who currently is serving a five-year term behind bars at the Montana State Prison for theft and issuing bad checks.

The judge called Hilgers "a con man with a very sordid history with the Department of Corrections" who even cheated his own mother.

"You apparently are a very personable individual ... Even your current victims, including your mother, seem to think very highly of you," Lovell said as Hilgers stood before him. "You have written quite an eloquent letter, which appears to fully atone for your behavior, but I can't wholeheartedly accept that because I don't think you mean that wholeheartedly."

Hilgers was an agent with a local mortgage company in 2004, and helped Rice fraudulently obtain his financing on the four residential properties by creating counterfeit W-2 forms and wage statements to make it seem as though Rice was employed and had a falsely high income.

Lovell sentenced Hilgers to five years in federal prison, with the sentence beginning after he's finished his five-year state prison term.

In asking for leniency, Hilger's lawyer, Steven Haddon, noted that Hilgers has cooperated with federal investigators looking into whether there are other cases of ongoing fraud in the Helena real estate industry.

But the judge said that due to Hilgers' long criminal history, he was instituting a sentence higher than the guidelines recommended.

Reporter Eve Byron: 447-4076 or eve.byron@helenair.com