A partner in a now-defunct medical supply company that scammed its customers and the federal government was sentenced Friday to six months of house arrest.

Jan Michael Bliwas, one of the founders of Active Solutions of Worthington, Ohio, was also placed on probation for two years during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg.

Active Solutions ran television ads across the country, including in Southwest Virginia, which promoted lightweight power scooters as a way for the elderly and disabled to get around their homes.

But after customers placed their orders using a toll-free number, they wound up with motorized wheelchairs that were often too large for them to maneuver in tight quarters.

The reason for the "bait and switch," according to federal prosecutors, was that Medicare reimbursed Active Solutions between $5,000 and $8,000 for each motorized wheelchair -- compared with $1,900 for the power scooters the customers thought they were ordering.

Under a sentence from Judge Norman Moon, Bliwas will be confined to his Upper Arlington, Ohio, home for six months. Although details have not been worked out in Bliwas' case, federal authorities generally allow people on house arrest to come and go for work and other essential matters.

Bliwas was a 45 percent shareholder in Active Solutions; his partner, Michael Cowen, controlled the rest of the company.

Bliwas was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the company and sometimes was actually locked out of the building as Cowen took a more active role, according to his attorney, Bob Rider.

"He just chose the wrong business partner," Rider said of his client.

Cowen pleaded guilty in March to health care fraud. His sentencing has not been scheduled.

Also on Friday, Cowen's wife, Bonita Cowen, was sentenced for her role in the fraud. Bonita Cowen, who worked as the company's office manager, was placed on probation for two years.