Jan. 27—Dennis Sanders, sentenced to 12 years of probation in May 2022 for his involvement in a home-improvement fraud scheme, will now serve over 10 years in jail after violating that probation last month.

Per Indiana law, the 62-year-old Sanders must serve at least 75% of that time in jail, or around eight years.

In early December, Sanders was arrested on misdemeanor charges of operating while intoxicated-endangerment and operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent of .15 or more, according to online court records, which led to the violation.

Friday, a sentencing hearing was held inside Howard Superior Court I regarding that violation.

During the hearing, a contingency of local pastors each testified on Sanders' behalf and called the defendant a helpful community volunteer and an asset to those he has helped.

Even Sanders himself took to the stand — for the first time — Friday and told the court he was "truly sorry" for his role in the fraud investigation and his most recent arrest.

"I've been a hypocrite and a liar and could learn a lot, but I'm profoundly sorry that I did this," Sanders testified. "... I have a messed-up record. ... I want to build my credibility back."

Sanders also noted he had gained employment as a driver for a local organization, but he eventually had to quit that job because it violated a condition of his probation that he couldn't work alongside convicted felons.

"It was a dream job," Sanders told the court, adding that the organization would have welcomed him back too if the court would have allowed it "... I was wrong, scared out of my mind. That was my reality, but I want to get a regular job. ... I promised the victims that I would make amends."

That issue of restitution to the victims was brought up several times during Friday's sentencing.

Per court documents, Sanders was ordered during an August 2022 hearing to pay $88,920 to 12 individual victims, as well as two sets of couples.

Curt Rawlings, a probation officer with the Howard County Probation Department, told the court he and Sanders came up with a repayment plan after that August hearing that consisted of Sanders paying $100 a month in restitution until he found gainful employment.

But since August, that amount of restitution has equaled roughly $300, Rawlings noted.

It's a monetary amount that Deputy Prosecutor Michael Krebes argued on Friday was just a "token payment" to keep Sanders out of jail.

"Dennis Sanders agreed to the restitution," Krebes told the court. "If he's not going to pay, he might as well sit in jail."

Senior Judge William Menges — filling in for current judge of Howard County Superior Court 1 Judge Matt Elkin — appeared to agree.

"It's a 30-year pattern," Menges said, citing similar fraud allegations against Sanders from the 1990s and early-2000s. "... I see absolutely no redeeming values in this situation. ... You were given an opportunity to change. You did not take advantage of it."

Sanders was first charged for home improvement fraud in July 2019, and he, at one time, faced 23 charges in both Howard and Miami counties. The corrupt business influence and home improvement fraud charges filed against him in Maimi County are still pending.

Then, in November 2021, Sanders was also charged with corrupt business influence, saying he knowingly received proceeds derived from a pattern of racketeering.

Probable cause affidavits filed in connection with the fraud scheme all shared a similar story too.

People — most of whom were 70 or older — would call Sanders after seeing his advertisements for Ace Handyman and Construction in the local media, probable cause affidavits filed in the case noted.

Sanders would then in turn convince those people to let him conduct work on their homes and pay the money up front.

But then he'd never do the work, court records indicated.

In one such case, according to Tribune archives, a woman told investigators she paid Sanders $3,200 to make minor repairs around her house.

She added that Sanders ended up bringing two men with him to do the work, and then he left the two men stranded at her residence for several hours.

Another female victim told the Tribune in August 2019 that Sanders was at her home when he received a phone call from a person who he said was his daughter.

When he got off the phone, he told the woman his daughter was sick and on experimental medication that his insurance wouldn't pay for, though investigators say none of that story was true.