A federal court judge on Tuesday sentenced Kendy Carpenter of Helena to two years behind bars for what he called a "one-person crime wave."

In handing down the punishment, which was more than double the recommended sentence under federal guidelines, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Charles Lovell made note of the prosecution's statements that Carpenter's guilty pleas to making false claims for child care services, federal student loan fraud, food stamp assistance fraud and bankruptcy fraud were only a part of her criminal history.

"The defendant presents herself to the court with a fairly extensive history of fraud, deception, manipulation and extortion," said Carl Rostad, assistant U.S. attorney. "She was given a chance to right her ship, economically and mentally, yet the fraud continued to occur.

"I'm sure she has every intention of trying to lead a law-abiding life, but she had every opportunity before this and squandered it."

Lovell agreed, pointing out that a pre-sentence report showed that Carpenter at age 29 had "attempted to extort money from an 18-year-old man by seducing him sexually and pretending to get pregnant, then demanding a $500 payment from the boy."

"She also threatened him with bodily harm and again threatened to charge him with the crime of rape," Lovell added.

Lovell noted that Carpenter initially was charged with a felony in state court for that crime, but it was plea bargained to a misdemeanor. He added that the presentence report said Carpenter, 31, had attempted this not once, but three times.

He also noted that those crimes, combined with the four federal felonies Carpenter was sentenced for Tuesday, were "despicable" and "egregious" activities even though they involved stealing less than $10,000 from the state and federal governments.

"She is well educated, is a smart individual and normally all those things would be considered in her favor. But with her background and those criminal acts that she committed, they make her a danger to the public and a danger to property," Lovell said.

A tearful Carpenter apologized to the court, saying that she has learned that "violence and I guess revenge on someone isn't the answer."

"I don't feel I'm the person you're saying I am. I admit I have done the fraud but I have learned from my past and don't want to do anything to harm me or my kids," said Carpenter, the mother of four. "I have made payments to the state of Montana to pay the money back, and I have been doing that for eight months. Now I have been trying to find a job, which is hard. I have to redo my whole education, go back to school, pay back the debt I owe for student loans."

Carpenter, 31, came to the court's attention through the federal "Trick for Treat" initiative, which targets people who commit food stamp fraud, according to Bill Mercer, U.S. Attorney for the state of Montana.

She was operating a child care business in April 2006, and received a $1,000 federal grant to build a fence to enhance the children's safety. Carpenter submitted an invoice for the materials, even though she knew the invoice was fake.

She applied for and received food stamp and Medicaid benefits without disclosing child support payments from the father of two of her four children and later didn't report when she had gotten a job with the state Department of Health and Human Services. Either of those disclosures would have made her ineligible for the benefits. She also was accused of forging letters from the fathers of her children about the amount of child support they paid.

In addition, Carpenter received benefits from the state for children she said she was caring for at a time when she was either on vacation or not operating the child care business.

Carpenter also made false statements and willful omissions when she declared bankruptcy in 2006 by not reporting income, according to court documents.

Psychotherapist Jim Seymour testified in support of a light sentence for Carpenter, saying she is proactively seeking treatment and working on mental health issues like panic attacks, anxiety and depression. Her attorney, Michael Donahoe, added that a sentence to house arrest would let Carpenter care for her children while paying for her crime.

But Lovell said he wanted to truly deter her and others.

"Considering this entire picture, it appears there is a wide scope of fraudulent activity here and it's corroborated by the defendant's criminal history," Lovell said. "These may not seem like serious offenses to some people, but they are to me. Even though the crimes are at a fairly low amount ... the scope of this fraudulent contact is broad."

Along with the prison term, Carpenter was ordered to pay $9,542 in restitution and will be under a probation officer's supervision for three years after her release from jail.

She was led crying from the courtroom, calling out to friends and family members to "tell my children I love them."

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