The office manager of Business Service Associates was sent to prison Monday for pocketing more than $500,000 from his clients' tax payments.

Jeffrey Scott Loar of Christiansburg received a 46-month prison sentence from U.S. District Court Judge Glen Conrad.

According to testimony in a daylong sentencing proceeding, Loar took about $563,000 from five companies that contracted with Business Services Associates, a Roanoke County-based firm that handles taxes for small businesses.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Waering said she was "very pleased" with Loar's sentence, which was met with applause from some of the spectators in the courtroom.

Defense attorney Ray Ferris said that from the beginning, Loar has expressed his regret and remorse to the victims of the scheme.

"He got into this, he got in over his head, and the only way he could keep the house of cards from coming down was to perpetuate the status quo," Ferris said.

As office manager of Business Service Associates, Loar had access to an account to which the company's clients forwarded their tax money.

But rather than send the money on to the Internal Revenue Service or the state Department of Taxation, Loar wrote checks from the account to himself, according to testimony at an earlier hearing.

The 38-year-old used the money to pay for a new porch, carpet and wallpapering for his home; to pay off a home equity loan; and to buy cars and a boat, according to the government's evidence.

Loar, who pleaded guilty in January to mail fraud, had been allowed to remain free until his sentencing. He asked for a few more days of freedom before beginning his prison term to tend to some personal business. For one thing, he said, he has yet to officially quit his job.

But Conrad ordered U.S. marshals to take custody of Loar.

Although federal prosecutors had accused Loar of embezzling as much as $1.2 million, the $563,000 he was ordered to pay in restitution represented the amount authorities could prove he diverted for his personal gain.

Companies that lost money in the scheme were Precision Steel Manufacturing, Adventure Entertainment, Miller Roofing, Wen-Don Corp. and TPS Water Service. Precision Steel sustained the largest loss, $278,848.62.