Retired colonel gets prison for paternity fraud

updated 2:17 p.m. ET Dec. 31, 2008

CARLISLE, Pa. - A retired Army colonel has been sentenced to prison for getting a classmate at the Army War College to take a paternity test in his place.

Scott Carlson, 53, was convicted in September on charges that included conspiracy and attempted theft by deception.

His lawyer, Dennis Boyle, said he plans to appeal the sentence the four- to 23-month term in county prison imposed Tuesday by Cumberland County President Judge Edgar Bayley.

Carlson was convicted of arranging for a fellow officer attending the military school in Carlisle to submit a DNA sample and thumbprint for the paternity test in 2006 so he could avoid paying child support for a 10-year-old girl he fathered through an extramarital affair with an enlisted woman.

Boyle said his client had paid child support without a court order for years, but prosecutors said he arranged the ruse with Col. Bruce Adkins in 2006 after the child's mother sought increased court-ordered support.

The scheme was discovered when county domestic relations officials realized that the man who arranged the paternity test was not the same one who took it.

Carlson, who retired from the Army last summer, testified that Adkins took the test without his knowledge.

Adkins, however, said Carlson pressed him to take the paternity test after helping him with his studies at the college, which prepares senior military officers for strategic leadership positions.

Adkins, of Douglasville, Ga., is scheduled for trial in January on identical charges.

More from msnbc.com What do you remember? Take our weekly quiz ‘Three Cups of Tea’ advice for Obama Will nuclear fusion fade ... or finally flare? World Cup or world stage? N. Korea on display Afghanistan's dogs of war sniff out mines On Twitter: Breaking news updates | Weird and wild

MORE FROM CRIME & COURTS

Crime & courts Section Front

Delayed Va. Tech alert 'inexcusable' N.Y. prof wrongly ID’d as suspect files suit Vet charged in Fort Drum killings Jail frees wrong inmate named ‘Ismail’ Man in stolen cell phone pic turns himself in Fort Hood cop says her career cut short Ind. teen charged with strangling brother, 10 Ohio serial killer suspect pleads insanity SUV runs into Ind. day care; 4 kids hurt Suspect in Levy killing faces new charges Crime & courts Section Front   Add Crime & courts headlines to your news reader: