BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A judge has sentenced a former Maine legislator to 10 years in prison for stealing more than $3 million from two elderly widows and for tax evasion.

Prosecutors said Robert Kenneth Lindell Jr., of Cloverdale, California, managed the estate of a 92-year-old Belfast woman and another woman living in France while working as a financial adviser.

The woman from France testified that Lindell was a longtime family friend and she trusted him with her finances. The Belfast woman died in 2012.

Justice William Anderson said at Tuesday’s sentencing said it was the worst theft he’d ever seen and ordered Lindell to pay $750,000 in restitution.

Lindell, elected in 2004, served one term as a Republican representative from Frankfort. He said he wants to dedicate his life to repaying the victims.

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