If Judge Kenneth Karas’ comments during the sentencing of Sam Israel’s ex-girlfriend Deb Ryan yesterday were any indication, the convicted fraudster turned fugitive is not going to find a smiling face waiting for him on the bench when he steps into Courtroom 521 at the Brieant Courthouse next month.

Karas decided against sending Ryan to jail for helping Israel flee in part at least because he believed Israel took advantage of Ryan.

Noting that federal sentencing guidelines called for four to 10 months in jail for Ryan, Karas asked Assistant U.S. Attorney what Israel’s guidelines called for. Krissoff said she thinks it’s 12 to 18 months.

The judge said taking advantage of people like Ryan is what people like Israel do. Commenting on the $300 that Ryan is alleged to have sent Israel in jail, landing her a state charge to go with her federal charge, the judge again said that was Israel at work.

“I think it more speaks to the sad and pathetic way that Mr. Israel operates,” he said.

Ominously for Sam, the judge said he’d have more to say on that when he sentences Israel on July 15.

Other notes from yesterday’s sentencing:

• Ryan has been left penniless by her relationship with Israel. She lost not only her own savings in Israel’s hedge fund fraud (savings accumulated from what once was a flourishing interior design business), but also the small inheritance she received upon the death of her mother in 2001. She also went into debt helping Israel with his legal fees. That’s why Karas declined to impose a fine on her, saying to do so would have been cruel.
• After she came clean with federal authorities 10 days after Israel fled, Ryan offered to act as a lure to bait Israel into coming out of hiding. Her lawyer, Richard Strassberg, said after her sentencing that no plan was ever put into operation, but she made the offer and was ready to help snare him.
• Karas’ decision to sentence Ryan to home confinement and probation rather than jail might seem to some like he went out of his way to cut her a break, but that’s not actually the case. The probation department, which prepares a lengthy pre-sentencing report for defendants convicted in federal court, recommended that sentence.  Neither federal sentencing guidelines nor the probation department’s recommendation are binding upon judges. But they do take them into account when determining a sentence.