After six arduous years, the owners of Mel & Faye's Diner had their last day in court against the man who nearly destroyed their financial existence.

Bruce "Buddy" White recently pleaded guilty to four felony counts of diversion of construction funds, two felony counts of embezzlement and two special allegations of excessive loss and white-collar crime. On Oct. 13, Judge Robert Dale sentenced White to 15 months in jail.

The ordeal that sparked a legal confrontation between Bart and Maura Gillman, the owners of Mel & Faye's Diner, and White began in 2003 when the local contractor won the bid to build the new Mel's at 31 Highway 49/88. White told the Gillmans the price tag for the project would be $567,217. Over the course of the year, White began to ask the Gillmans for tens of thousands of dollars above the cost of the original bid. He claimed it was to pay subcontractors, though he was pocketing most of the funds for himself and telling the subcontractors that it was the Gillmans' responsibility to pay them.

In mid-October of that year, White informed the Gillmans that he would need another $135,000 to complete the project. The Gillmans began cashing in stocks and bonds and draining their children's college funds in order to pay White. In total, the Gillmans paid White $735,000. They also spent an additional $200,000 paying subcontractors White had scammed.

In December, White informed the Gillmans they owed him another $57,000. They refused to pay. Soon DA investigator Noel Dunne was beginning to see the scope of White's fraud. He interviewed the contractor and discovered that at least $135,000 of the Gillmans' money had gone to White's other projects, family and personal use. The district attorney's office launched criminal proceedings against White in 2006.

On Tuesday, the judge prefaced his sentencing by informing all present he was inclined to follow the recommendations of the Amador County Probation Department. District Attorney Todd Riebe told Dale that he wanted to argue on the spot for a higher penalty than probation had recommended due to "the defendant's lack of remorse and the extent of the damages done to the Gillman family." The judge agreed to hear Riebe out. Before the district attorney made his case, the judge allowed a victim's impact statement from Maura, who spoke about the toll of dealing with White's con against her family while her husband was going through cancer treatment and she and her children were working double and triple shifts at the restaurant to stay solvent. "Little did I know when we met you," Maura said to White, "that we'd met our family's Bernie Madoff."

Maura ended by saying, "You showed so much arrogance, thinking you could get away with this. You equated a small town with a small mind - and you were wrong."

When Maura finished, Riebe spent 10 minutes discussing with the judge how the law could be interpreted to demand a higher sentence on two of the counts against White. He also asked Dale to revoke White's state contractor's license.

"Mr. White has had his contractor's license suspended six separate times before and always managed to get it back," Riebe explained to Dale. "I know it's unusual, but the law says the court has the power to put a stop to that; so we're asking you to put a stop to it."

Dale was convinced and agreed to take Riebe's recommendations.

"This is the largest economic loss I've had to sentence in 25 years," Dale told the courtroom.

Turning to White, Dale said, "You were a 30-year contractor who took advantage of a position of trust."

The judge's tone stiffened when he added, "This was not a case of you being a bad business man. These were crimes, plain and simple."

Dale sentenced White to 15 months in the Amador County Jail and 10 years of highly conditional probation, which empowers the D.A. to check his financial records every two months and make sure he's not bidding jobs under his brother's contracting license. He's to pay the Gillmans $200,000. If White fails the conditions, a sentence of six years in state prison could be imposed.