Update: Piepenbrink Given Probation, Work Release Following Conviction on 7 Counts

Editor's note: The comments from Piepenbrink's defense attorney Kenneth Udoibok were added late Tuesday evening. 

Former  pastor Leon Piepenbrink was given 20 years probation, a year of work release and 60 hours of community service Tuesday morning after Dakota County District Court Judge David L. Knutson convicted him of seven felony counts of theft by swindle. 

Defense attorney Kenneth Udoibok was hoping for a bit more leniency. "We feel that justice was served ... but we were hoping he wouldn't have to do (any work release or community service)."  

Knutson actually sentenced Piepenbrink concurrently to several years behind bars but stayed the execution of the sentences for varying periods of time. The details of Knutson's sentence are as follows:

• Count 1: 1 year and 1 day, MCF-St. Cloud (stayed for 10 years)
• Count 2: 13 months, MCF-St. Cloud (stayed for 10 years)
• Count 3: 33 months, MCF-St. Cloud; 365 days work release, Dakota County Jail (stayed for 20 years)
• Count 4: 17 months, MCF-St. Cloud (stayed for 10 years)
• Count 5: 19 months, MCF-St. Cloud (stayed for 10 years)
• Count 6: 21 months, MCF-St. Cloud (stayed for 10 years)
• Count 7: 23 months, MCF-St. Cloud (stayed for 10 years)

Piepenbrink—a former Inver Grove Heights pastor working with the Hmong community —was charged with the crimes in May 2011 after spinning an elaborate tale to conceal the theft of $62,500 from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church Synod (WELS). 

Udoibok continued: "My central point remains: when the Church invites the State into its life, the congregation must pause. What Leon Piepenbrink did was use church funds to help needy people and is now paying for it dearly. He regrets that he had to go to that extent. He has asked for forgiveness from the Church and from the State. I take solace in the fact that this is a man that wanted to help people." 

Each of the charges against Piepenbrink carried with it a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. It is clear from the sentence handed down Judge Knutson departed from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines.  

"However meager or small the sentence is, I'm still disappointed that there was any penalty at all," Udoibok said. "I find solace that the judge fashioned out what I think is fair and just. He took into consideration the totality of the circumstances. But for the Church, they need to search their hearts and the tenents of the scripture to justify the way they have treated a man that has given them 30 years." 

Related stories: 

•  (May 2011)
•  (Dec. 2011)
•  (Apr. 2012)
•  (Apr. 2012)

Inver Grove Heights Patch will continue to update this story as more details arise. Like IGH Patch Facebook for up-to-the-minute developments.