PORTLAND — A federal court judge told Thomas Nelson that she expects him to work once hea’s released from prison and pay back upwards of $1 million that he stole from York County Community Action Corporation to finance his gambling addiction Tuesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Torreson sentenced Nelson, 56, the former executive director of YCCAC, to 30 months in federal prison and to the maximum period of supervised release, three years. As part of the probation, he will be expected to work or perform 20 hours of community service weekly. He was ordered to pay about $700,000 in restitution to YCCAC, $500,000 to an insurance company that partially reimbursed YCCAC for their loss and $148,700 to the Internal Revenue Service.

“I expect you to work hard to pay off these debts, and I’ll use probation to make sure you don’t retreat to a comfortable couch,” said Torreson, who called Nelson’s crime “shameful.” She said those who seek assistance from York County Community Action work for minimum wage, “and so will you, Mr. Nelson.”

She said while Nelson took so-called “unrestricted” funds and not federal money that funded social service programs, the money he took could have been used to help people.

“You stole the money from people in our society who can least afford it,” she told Nelson.

Nelson was executive director and chief executive officer of YCCAC from 1988 until he resigned in February 2010. He later worked as director of Rockingham Community Action in Portsmouth, N.H., but resigned in August 2012 at about the same time that he pleaded guilty to 10 federal criminal counts, including conspiracy to embezzle, embezzlement from an agency that receives federal funds, six counts of tax evasion and two counts of filing false tax returns.

He told federal agents he’d been taking York County Community Action Corporation funds for eight to 10 years, according to court documents, using the money he’d stolen to pay credit card debt associated with gambling and to pay his mortgage. Following sentencing Tuesday afternoon, his defense attorney, Jeff Silverstein, said Nelson gambled at horse racing tracks and in Off Track Betting parlors.

Nelson apologized for his crimes.

“I have no excuses. I feel guilty every day,” said Nelson. He said YCCAC is comprised of “great people who do great work.”

“I let them down,” he said. “I’m sorry about what I put them through. They trusted me ”¦ and I let them down.

“There’s no excuse, gambling or not.”

During the hearing, Silverstein told the judge that an examination by a Bangor psychologist showed Nelson’s gambling was fueled by compulsive behavior, and that he has kicked his gambling habit. He said when he first talked to Nelson, the former social service agency director asked what he could do to right his wrongs, and he acknowledged he’d hurt a lot of people.

“He understands he owes a significant debt and will do what he can to make it whole,” Silverstein said.

He added that his client has been virtually unemployed, with the exception of some short-term jobs like cutting brush or painting an apartment, for some time. He’d lived with his former wife for a time, and later with another relative.

The court documents showed Nelson and an unnamed out-of-state consultant developed a scheme whereby Nelson would direct payments to the consulting firm, overpaying in relation to work actually performed, and then receive a kickback, either in cash or toward his personal expenses. As well as the scheme that involved the “consultant,” Nelson also diverted funds to the defunct New England Community Action Association, of which he had been treasurer, recording the payments as donations, consulting or other expenses, and often forged the signature of a York County Community Action employee on the checks.

YCCAC attorney Joseph Groff told the court the consultant referenced was not a YCCAC employee.

YCCAC Executive Director Barbara Crider, in a written statement, noted Nelson has not been employed by the agency for three years and said the agency has recovered about $500,000 through its insurance company.

“The (YCCAC) board would like to commend the U.S. Attorney’s Office for its thorough investigation, which led to the discovery of these crimes, and to a just result for the perpetrator,” she wrote. “The organization has recovered a substantial portion of the funds that were misappropriated. It has been and continues to look forward to continuing to provide high quality services throughout York County.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Joyce said Nelson’s crime was a relatively straight-forward theft case.

“This was not a single lapse of judgment or to pay for medical bills,” said Joyce. “It was an ongoing, continuing, frankly selfish theft over six years.”

Nelson was ordered to report to an as-yet-unnamed federal prison in the New England area June 18.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, Ext. 327 or [email protected].