U.S. District Court Judge Philip P. Simon on Friday afternoon sentenced 60-year-old Marwan “Mike” Kawar, who pleaded guilty in July 2020 to mail fraud.

He admitted to using his job as a plant manager for Multi-Wall, a packaging company in Gary, to siphon over $ 397,000 of his earnings into his personal financial account.

Kawar was given a longer-than-expected sentence as he was caught trying to leave the country while on bail pending his conviction.

Authorities arrested him on February 22 at O’Hare International Airport as he was about to board a plane for an unauthorized trip to the island of Cyprus. He has been in federal custody.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Berkowitz argued in a note to the judge earlier this year that Kawar was trying to flee justice.

She said he hid his Jordanian passport at the court’s probation office and violated his promise not to leave the continental United States without permission while his case was pending.

Kawar recently wrote a letter to Judge Simon denying he was trying to escape. He said he was only going to Cyprus to have dental surgery which he could not afford in the United States.