California investment adviser Kent Nelson, a key prosecution witness in the federal trial of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil, today was given a nine-year suspended sentence on a state charge of racketeering, KRQE News 13 is reporting.

Nelson, who told investigators he had funneled millions of dollars in kickbacks to Vigil and former state Treasurer Michael Montoya, was already serving a three-year sentence at a federal prison camp on one count of mail fraud when he appeared before state District Judge Barbara Vigil in Santa Fe.

He pleaded guilty today to a single count of racketeering as part of a plea agreement with state prosecutors and was given the suspended sentence, according to The Associated Press.

At his sentencing on the federal charge last September, senior U.S. District Judge James Parker said that Nelson's cooperation with federal officials in prosecuting Vigil and his lack of prior criminal history were factors in giving Nelson a three-year sentence, instead of the potential 11 to 14 years he could have gotten, the Albuquerque Journal reported at the time.

Nelson also was fined $175,000 and ordered to spend three years of supervised probation on the federal mail-fraud count, the Journal reported.

According to News 13, Nelson was scheduled to return to California to serve out his federal sentence after today's state court action. 

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