The former head of a Virginia Beach, Va., church will serve 10 months in jail for stealing from both his congregation and its insurance company.

Kenneth Leigh Montgomery, 49, of Norfolk, Va., was sentenced in Virginia Beach Circuit Court to serve time in jail and was placed on an indeterminate period of probation, according to the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Virginia Beach, Harvey L. Bryant.

The former pastor must also pay restitution to Hilltop Community Church in Virginia Beach, Va., of $125,943 and $76,063 to Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Co., a national insurer of churches and ministries.

Montgomery pleaded guilty in January to grand larceny and obtaining money by false pretenses based on evidence that he “maneuvered himself” into the pastor’s position at Hilltop, according to Bryant.

Between 2004, when he began his pastorate, to November 2006, Montgomery stole from the church, using money for past due mortgage payments and other personal and family expenses, according to the prosecution. He also defrauded Brotherhood Mutual by falsely reporting break-ins and thefts of church property. When the insurer paid the claims, Montgomery claimed the stolen items were his, and the church reimbursed him for the losses, Bryant said.

In 1994, Montgomery pleaded guilty to felony grand larceny and burglary offenses and was sentenced to 12 months in jail.

Bryant called Montgomery’s crimes “especially onerous,” as he took money given to the church “for the benefit of the congregation and to  promote the Lord’s work in the community.”

“The overwhelming majority of our pastors, priests, and rabbis, the leaders of our faith communities, are honest and upright examples for their congregations,” Bryant said in a statement. “Every profession and occupation has those who fail to live up to our expectations. We don’t stop believing in the law or medicine just because a lawyer or doctor commits a crime.”