A Kaneohe investment adviser who spent all of the $3.6 million he swindled from seven families plus the profit he gained from investing the money in a Ponzi scheme will go to federal prison for four years and nine months.

Albert J.K. Perkins IV pleaded guilty to transferring stolen money across state lines.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra handed down the prison sentence yesterday and ordered Perkins to pay back the money he stole.

All that is left are two sports cars Perkins bought with some of the stolen money, a yellow 1999 Porsche Carrera Cabriolet and a gold 2002 Porsche 911 Convertible, said Lawrence Tong, assistant U.S. attorney.

Perkins forfeited the cars to the government.

He remains free on a $100,000 unsecured signature bond until he is supposed to turn himself in to begin serving his prison term on May 18.

Ezra said he is “;shocked, in some measure, that part of (Perkins') scheme was that his religion gave him credibility.”;

The government said Perkins was able to gain his victims' trust, in part, by invoking his Mormon faith.

The 57 months is the maximum prison term Ezra could have imposed under the advisory federal court sentencing guidelines. He told Perkins he would not have hesitated sentencing him to 10 years in prison had he not cooperated and eventually come clean with federal investigators.

Most of Perkins' victims were in federal court yesterday.

The victim who lost the most money is a family who sold property in East Honolulu for $2.9 million in 2008 to pay for the $8,000 to $9,000 monthly nursing home bills of the family's patriarch.

Perkins convinced the patriarch's daughter that the family could earn 18 percent annual return on the money by purchasing certificates of deposit from a bank with which he has a “;special relationship,”; according to federal court records. The family invested $2.5 million, but instead of going to the purchase of CDs, it went into Perkins' account.

The man's daughter, who chooses not to be identified and who is referred to in court records as “;K.K.,”; said Perkins took away her dad's legacy and her ability to care for him in one shot.

“;He took advantage of our situation,”; she said. “;He is simply a lying, cheating, common criminal who belongs to be in jail.”;

Perkins apologized to his victims and promised to pay them back.