A former U.S. Secret Service agent has been jailed for 71 months after being found guilty of stealing Bitcoin during the federal investigation into the now defunct Darknet marketplace Silk Road.

Agent Shaun W. Bridges, who had previously spent time as a member of the President’s security detail, was arrested in April along with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Carl Force on charges of money laundering and wire fraud.

Bridges subsequently pleaded guilty in August to money laundering and obstruction charges, admitting to stealing $820,000 worth of Bitcoin.

Access to the Bitcoins was obtained after the arrest of Silk Road admin Curtis Green in January 2013, where as part of the investigation Bridges obtained Green’s login details and then subsequently locked out Silk Road users and looted their accounts by moving around 20,000 Bitcoins in them to an account he held at Mt. Gox, an action that not only resulted in theft but problems with other investigations as well.

“The number of cases that Mr. Bridges contaminated — as well as investigations across the country that his conduct led to having to be shut down — is startling,” Ars Techinca reported Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Kathryn Haun telling the court. “There was another investigation into Mt. Gox that had to be shut down. I can tell you that Mr. Bridges learned there was a criminal investigation afoot with Mt. Gox, and what did he do? He turned around to the AUSA and did a civil seizure warrant to [Mt. Gox founder Mark] Karpeles. But two days before he did that, he made sure to get all of his money out. Bridges didn’t want a criminal case to proceed because if the government got the records, they would have seen his name.”

At the sentencing hearing, the disgraced agent told the court he accepted full responsibility for his actions and that his theft had cost him and his family dearly, stating:

“I want it to be clear that I accept full responsibility. My wife has lost everything, she went to college to go to law enforcement and now she has lost it all. I just wanted to apologize to everybody.”

Despite Bridges’ attorneys seeking a three-year prison term and his acceptance of full responsibility, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg imposed the maximum sentence, saying that his behavior was a “shocking and reprehensible abandonment of his public duty.”

“This, to me, is an extremely serious crime consisting of the betrayal of public trust from a public official. From what I can see, it was motivated by greed,” Seeborg said. “No departure or variance is warranted in this case. I seldom find myself in the position of imposing a high-end sentence, but I find this is warranted in this case.”

Along with his prison sentence, Bridges was ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution.

Bridge’s incarceration follows Force being sentenced to 78 months in prison by the same Judge back in October on charges including extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

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