SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – A Springfield pastor who admitted defrauding his own parishioners in a $600,000 real estate scam was sentenced to three years in prison.

The Rev. Paul Starnes was also sentenced Friday to five years probation and ordered to repay $137,000 to two banks defrauded in the scheme. In January, Starnes pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder money.

Federal prosecutors said Starnes and two others from Trinity Mortgage Brokerage Co. were involved in a land-flip scheme that involved buying depressed properties and paying off appraisers to inflate their values. They then recruited poor, first-time buyers and drafted phony financial documents to obtain mortgages.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Welch II told U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor that the minister targeted four of his own parishioners at the Morning Star Church. “I can’t figure out what’s worse: Defrauding a total stranger. Or a family member. Or one of your parishioners,” Welch said.

Starnes’ attorney, Peter Ettenberg, argued his client should be given credit for helping prosecutors win convictions against two of his employees.

He told Ponsor that Starnes’ resorted to unethical practices while arranging loans when his company struggled in the late 1990s.

AP-ES-07-01-06 1539EDT