PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Notorious embezzler Joseph Mollicone Jr., who helped spark a state banking crisis with his $12 million theft, has managed to pay back just over $4,500 since being released from prison in 2002.

At his current monthly payment of $217, it will take the former bank president 4,606 years to pay back the remaining $11,995,500 he owes, the Providence Journal reported.

Superior Court Magistrate Patricia Lynch Harwood, who handles all collection matters in the court, recently increased Mollicone’s payment from $75 a month. She said it’s clear Mollicone won’t ever pay back what he owes.

“No one I know could do it,” Harwood said. “But the point remains he has to make payments to the best of his ability.”

Mollicone was president of Heritage Loan & Investment Co. when examiners discovered millions were missing from the institution.

Mollicone fled to Salt Lake City to live under an assumed name. Meanwhile, the bank failed and forced the emergency closure of the 44 other financial institutions insured by the Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corp.

Hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders were unable to access their money for up to 18 months, until the state borrowed more than $300 million to reimburse them.

Mollicone surrendered to authorities in 1992 and was convicted of embezzlement the next year. A judge sentenced him to 30 years to serve in prison, $12 million in restitution and $420,000 in fines.

Mollicone was released on parole in 2002 and began making restitution payments.

Mollicone now lives in Warwick works in sales for Exclusive Findings, a small metal-stamping company run by a friend. He did not return messages for comment left at his work by the Journal.

Last year, Mollicone, 64, married attorney Katy Hynes, 35, who was an assistant for his lawyer Robert Mann. Harwood said the marriage would reduce Mollicone’s expenses and was one reason she increased his monthly payment to 10 percent of his gross income, currently $217.

She also said Mollicone now has the ability to pay more, and he has the potential to make more money in the future because he hopes to increase his income with real estate deals.

In an interview, Harwood said she and her husband, former House Speaker John Harwood, could not access some of their money for a short period of time during the credit union crisis. She said she recognizes that people get “incensed” about Mollicone.

But she said Mollicone is not treated any differently than anyone else who comes before her.

“My job is to make sure restitution is paid to the best of their ability,” she said.

AP-ES-11-17-07 1108EST