Former Portland resident Gerardo Mosquera was sentenced to 60 months in prison in the United States District Court today for his convictions for stealing from a program that provides food to under-privileged children.

Mosquera, 43, has been in custody since his extradition from Colombia in December.

According to the indictment, Mosquera made claims to the Oregon Department of Education for meals he never served to children at various program sites in the Portland area. Between 2003 and 2009, Mosquera, doing business as Diversity Initiatives, was paid more than $1.6 million by the Oregon Department of Education. ODE representatives became suspicious when they observed that the number of sites served by Mosquera had decreased, but the number of meals claimed by Mosquera had increased.

A subsequent audit revealed the theft had been ongoing for at least two years, and that approximately 100,000 meals claimed by Mosquera had never been provided.

Mosquera is also accused of using of a false Social Security number when opening Diversity Initiatives’ bank account.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on Mosquera and will likely seek his deportation at the end of his term of imprisonment.