HAMILTON - A West Chester Township man was sentenced to a year in prison Monday in what is believed to be Ohio's only case of Sept. 11-related insurance fraud.

        Butler County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Oney sentenced Ajay Chawla, 37, for insurance fraud, attempted aggravated theft by deception, telecommunications fraud and falsification.

        She also fined him $3,000.

        He had been jailed since Aug. 16, when a jury found him guilty on all counts.

        With credit for that time, Mr. Chawla will spend about 10 1/2 months behind bars.

        He had faced a maximum of five years on the most serious charge, insurance fraud, a third-degree felony.

        Assistant Prosecutor Lee Oldendick said after the sentencing that “while the state had hoped for a greater sentence, under current legislative guidelines, the court is limited in the sentence it may impose on a first-time offender.”

        A one-year term is presumed for a nonviolent third-degree felony with no prior criminal convictions, Mr. Oldendick said.

        Mr. Chawla had filed a claim on a $100,000 life insurance policy on his father, Om Parkash Chawla, who he said had perished in the World Trade Center collapse.

        However, the elder Mr. Chawla was alive in India.

        Ajay Chawla said he had made an honest mistake, and that when he found his father was unharmed, he withdrew his insurance claim.

        But authorities said that happened only after Mr. Chawla realized he was being investigated.

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