TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A Florida man who admitted to disguising abortion pills as antibiotics was sentenced Monday to 13 years and eight months in prison
John Welden, 29, admitted last year to giving Remee Jo Lee a bottle of the drug Cytotec, disguised as an antibiotic, after she became pregnant and refused an abortion.
At a hearing earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara found a single dose of the drug caused Lee to lose a nearly seven-week pregnancy.
Welden would have faced a mandatory life sentence if convicted of first-degree murder under the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Instead, he pleaded guilty in September to consumer product tampering and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, which has a maximum sentence of 15 years.
"I don't think Mr. Welden is an evil person, but he committed an evil act and for that he's going to have to pay the consequences," Lazzara said at Monday's sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors recommended Welden serve his sentence at a low-security prison camp, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
