A Bismarck man has been sentenced to one year in jail for stealing nearly $18,000 from a parent-teacher organization at an elementary school.

South Central District Judge Gail Hagerty sentenced James Paul Feland, 53, to eight years in prison with all but one year suspended on Friday for Class B felony misappropriation of entrusted funds. Feland will be on supervised probation following his release from jail.

Feland is serving his sentence in the Burleigh County Detention Center.

In the sentence, Hagerty included a provision that Feland will be eligible for work release if he meets the guidelines set forth by the detention center.

Feland also has to repay $17,699.06 to the Riverside Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization. He is required to make minimum monthly payments of $200 to the organization.

Feland was charged with the offense July 28, 2006, and was accused of taking money from the PTO from April 2004 to January 2006, during which time he was the PTO treasurer.

Authorities said Feland wrote several checks to himself and also wrote checks to pay for fixing his heater, for new tires, to pay his cable bill and for cash.

In a victim impact statement, PTO president Julie Roth asked Hagerty to make Feland pay restitution.

"Riverside School is small, and it took a lot of time and effort for these kids to earn this money. It has left PTO with an outstanding bill that we are trying to make good,"Roth wrote. "We can't do a lot of stuff because of lack of money. The kids and staff and PTO and parents had a lot of trust with this person, so this has been real hard on everyone."

According to court documents, Feland changed his plea to guilty on May 3. A presentence evaluation and psychological evaluation were completed before Friday's sentencing.