There was no badge. No gun on his hip. No police uniform. No smile. And no chatty conversation with reporters.

Hallmarks of Greg Solano's nearly eight-year tenure as Santa Fe County sheriff were gone Wednesday, reduced to a somber demeanor tucked in a dark suit, a few "yes sirs" to a judge, one brief prepared statement apologizing to taxpayers, and a very quick walk out of the state District Court complex with his wife on one arm and daughter on the other.

The onetime ambitious, up-and-coming politician and lawman pleaded guilty Wednesday to five third-degree felony counts of fraud for embezzling county-owned items and selling them on eBay for personal gain. Each count carries a sentence of up to three years in prison.

"To the people of Santa Fe County, Mr. Solano was elected to protect and serve, not to steal and profit," said special prosecutor Matt Chandler, the Clovis-based district attorney. "In an era where public trust is becoming the topic of the day, it's time to send a message that gross misconduct by public officials will be strictly punished."

The case originated with Solano's limited November confession, followed by a January arrest on 251 counts of embezzlement (some misdemeanor, some felony) and one felony count of fraud. If he would have been convicted on all the original counts, Solano could have faced a maximum sentence of well over 100 years in prison.

As part of his plea agreement, however, the state will seek no more than eight years of prison time, and up to 15 years of probation if Solano violates any of his special probation conditions.

Chandler said he made the decision to essentially consolidate the original embezzlement charges to five counts of fraud, and that if the case would have proceeded to trial, he was prepared to show that Solano was a "habitual gambler" who spent some $3,000 from a PayPal account linked to his eBay sales at various casinos.

That is a claim to which defense attorney Tom Clark objected, saying anything not specifically stipulated in the plea agreement should be reserved for a yet-to-be scheduled sentencing hearing. Solano, in a text-message exchange after the hearing, also denied the "habitual gambler" claim. He pointed out that he agreed to a stipulation in his plea agreement that he not gamble — either online or in a casino or house game — while serving what could be up to 15 years of probation.

Other conditions set forth in the plea agreement covered probation costs that Solano will owe, a requirement that he can't own a firearm and his agreement to immediately surrender his law-enforcement certification. He also will have to submit a DNA sample as a convicted felon.

After Wednesday's hearing, the 47-year-old Solano read a prepared statement in which he sought to assure taxpayers that he will try to repay them financially and addressed the trust he violated.

"Today was the first step in doing what I always said I would do, and that's take responsibility for my actions," Solano said before leaving court without answering questions from reporters.

"I want to apologize again to the community, my friends and my family, the sheriff's office and the county of Santa Fe. I will continue to work to make right for what I have done wrong. I want to thank the district attorney, Matt Chandler, the New Mexico State Police and agent Jesse Williams for doing a professional job. I apologize to them as well."

Solano, who also thanked defense attorneys Brooke Gamble and Tom Clark, started his return to the public spotlight Wednesday with a message to the more than 2,000 people on his Facebook account, expressing a similar sentiment: "Today I begin officially taking responsibility for my actions, I apologize again to everyone and I thank all of you who have given me prayers and words of encouragement. God Bless."

Chandler says he will not only request an eight-year prison sentence but also will ask District Judge Stephen Pfeffer to order Solano to pay about $137,000 in restitution — $73,364 for the 330 items identified as being part of the fraud and $64,200 for the county's expense in hiring an independent firm to conduct an extensive forensic audit of the sheriff's office.

Solano's defense team says restitution should total around $25,000. Many of the items Solano sold on eBay, Clark says, were used items, and restitution for those should be based on market value, not the purchase price of those items. The independent audit's calculation of $73,363 is derived from the purchase price of all the embezzled items. Clark added that forcing Solano to pay for the audit would be "inappropriate," a claim Chandler countered by pointing out that defendants are often asked to pay for investigation costs that arise from their crimes and asserting that the audit assisted in the investigation.

As to the proposed eight years in prison, Clark almost laughed off the suggestion as one that would be counterproductive if the true goal is to seek repayment to taxpayers.

"I've never had a client, and neither has (lead defense counsel Brooke Gamble), who has been more remorseful for the crimes he committed against society than Greg," Clark said. "Putting him in jail won't serve any purpose. He is a lot better to the community out of jail than he is in jail if restitution is to be paid back."

Clark added that Solano is working three jobs — neither the attorney nor Solano would say what those jobs are — in an effort to save money to make restitution. During the plea hearing, Clark said Solano could come up with about $12,500 for restitution by the time of his sentencing.

But first, Pfeffer will have to hold a hearing to hammer out details of what exactly the former sheriff will owe. Clark and Chandler made it clear that while both sides made extensive efforts to reach a plea agreement, they were nowhere close to agreement on the restitution issue.

Solano has stipulated he'll pay back the full purchase price of items that were purchased new. However, Pfeffer could require a court hearing to go over each piece of used property in question in order to determine the fair market value of those items.

Solano resigned in November with a letter to county commissioners that also served as a confession of sorts. He said that for a couple of years, he had been selling some used sheriff's office items, mostly expired bullet-proof vests, to families of people working in the Middle East, so he could get money to help pay off his mortgage.

In the following weeks, it was learned that Solano's resignation and confession came after an eBay customer "tipped him off," as Chandler described it in court Wednesday, to a state police investigation that was triggered by a reserve sheriff's deputy in Texas. That man had bought a bullet-proof vest through Solano's eBay account and, while trying to get the vest resized, learned it was registered with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office. He then alerted New Mexico State Police.

An examination of eBay records showed Solano mostly, although not exclusively, sold brand-new items such as blank compact discs, ink cartridges and handcuffs, in addition to the used vests and flashlights he initially admitted to selling. Police also discovered his eBay sales dated back much longer than the two years he initially admitted to. Police say the earliest eBay records that could be retrieved date as far back as January 2007.

Solano, who has no prior criminal convictions, was about five weeks shy of completing his eighth year as sheriff when he resigned.

Solano statement to media following plea hearing

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3076 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at SantaFeCrime.com.