Former real estate mogul Kelly Gearhart is out of prison a year early.
The Bureau of Prisons website shows the now 60-year-old was released from custody on Wednesday.
Court records show his sentence was reduced from 14 to 9 years back in 2019.
At that time, Gearhart had a scheduled release date of March 2, 2023.
The U.S. Department of Justice says the lowered sentence in 2019 stemmed from an error made during Gearhart’s original sentencing in 2015.
“It was plain error for the district court to impose a 168-month sentence concurrently on counts 13, 14, and 15 because the maximum sentence for a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957 (count 15) is 120 months,” records show.
The lowered sentence reportedly reflected what was within the “allowable range” for money laundering and came after Gearhart appealed his original sentence.
Hundreds of people on the Central Coast lost millions to Gearhart.
He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering and was serving his time at FCI Morgantown in West Virginia.
Gearhart lived in Atascadero and was named the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce's citizen of the year in 2006.
