Three men sentenced in theft of McDonald's game pieces

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - A judge Thursday sentenced one man to two years in prison and two others to six months of home arrest for being in a multimillion-dollar scheme that redeemed stolen pieces of McDonald&#39;s games such as ``Monopoly&#39;&#39; and ``Who Wants to be a Millionaire.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Forty-five-year-old Jerome Pearl of Miami received the prison sentence and must pay restitution of $786,500 at $50 a month. Pearl would need more than 1,300 years to pay back the money. <br> <br> Thirty-year-old George Chandler of Walhalla, South Carolina, and 50-year-old John Henderson of Las Vegas received home arrest and were also ordered to complete three years&#39; probation. Chandler also must pay $440,125 in restitution at $500 a month, while Henderson must pay back $473,167 at $150 a month. Chandler and Henderson would need 73 and 262 years, respectively, to make all payments. <br> <br> The three and Kevin Whitfield of Savannah, Georgia, were convicted in August of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in the scam. Whitfield was sentenced to three year&#39;s probation, fined $1,500 and ordered to pay $40,500 restitution. <br> <br> The four were convicted in August of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in the scam. <br> <br> Prosecutors argued that the men were involved in a conspiracy to redeem the game pieces, which were stolen by Jerome Jacobson, director of security for the company that ran the games for the hamburger chain. From 1995 to 2001, he stole most of the games&#39; high-value pieces, selling some of them to family and friends, who recruited other people to join in. <br> <br> The 59-year-old Jacobson of Lawrenceville, Geirgia, was earlier sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison. <br> <br> A total of 47 people have pleaded guilty and four have been found guilty and one man was acquitted.