Forty-five people wrote letters to the judge who was about to impose sentence on Alfonzo DeIuliis.

They praised him for being a caring and considerate son to his elderly parents, a loving and fun uncle to his young niece and nephew and an educator dedicated to serving underprivileged students.

Assistant district attorney Kevin Chernosky did not dispute any of it.

“I actually believe everything everyone says in those letters,” the prosecutor said. “I believe he actually was a wonderful teacher.”

But that didn’t change DeIuliis’ behavior — exposing himself at the McCandless LA Fitness and propositioning others in the gym sauna — and Mr. Chernosky asked Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel for a sentence within the standard guideline range of three to 12 months in jail.

Instead, DeIuliis, the former principal at Pittsburgh Brookline K-8, was sentenced to time served plus six months electronic monitoring.

He also was ordered to serve five years probation and register as a sex offender for 25 years.

DeIuliis, 37, was arrested for obscene behavior at the gym that occurred between February and August 2013. He proclaimed his innocence and, at trial in May, testified that he never acted inappropriately. His defense attorney, Phil DiLucente, also presented records to the jury showing his client was on vacation in Florida at the time of one of the alleged incidents.

“I honestly believed we proved our case,” the attorney said.

Still, the jury found DeIuliis guilty of open lewdness, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, harassment and indecent exposure related to three victims.

At the sentencing hearing, Mr. DiLucente said his client has already paid for the crime.

“He was at the top of his career,” the attorney said. “He has been assassinated — his character — because of these convictions.”

Mr. DiLucente asked the court to consider work release for his client. DeIuliis’ parents own a rental business, and the attorney said that once he completes his six months of electronic monitoring, he will work full time there.

After the jury’‍s verdict in May, Judge McDaniel revoked DeIuliis’ bond and had him immediately taken into custody. He served about five weeks prior to Tuesday’s hearing.

“I put you in jail so you know that’s your alternative” if release conditions are violated, Judge McDaniel said.

Among those conditions, DeIuliis is to have no contact with minors, no Internet access and must undergo mental health and/​or sex offender treatment.

Judge McDaniel quickly corrected herself, though, and told DeIuliis if he violated any conditions, he would go to state prison instead, where sex offenders have difficulty, she noted.

“They would not like you there.”

First Published: June 24, 2014, 4:00 a.m.
Updated: June 25, 2014, 3:14 a.m.