STEUBENVILLE — Monsignor Kurt Kemo, former vicar general of the Diocese of Steubenville, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Jefferson Common Pleas Court to pocketing nearly $300,000 in diocesan funds.

Kemo, 64, was sentenced to six months in the Eastern Ohio Regional Correctional Center followed by six years of community control — two years for aggravated theft by control without consent of funds intended for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, aggravated theft by control without consent of diocese funds and receiving stolen property.

As part of his plea deal, Kemo, who now lives in Covington, Kentucky, also reimbursed the diocese for the $289,000 he’d illegally obtained.

Prior to sentencing, Kemo told Judge Michelle Miller he was “very, very sorry. By making restitution today, I hope that God will forgive me …”

Prosecutors said Kemo, a recovering alcoholic, used diocesan funds to pay for a host of items, including flying lessons, expensive clothes and hotel rooms.

In February, former diocese Comptroller David Franklin, 69, pleaded guilty to diverting money intended for legitimate diocesan purposes to pay himself and a select group of employees unauthorized bonuses and falsifying records to conceal the true financial condition of the diocese.

He was sentenced to 18 months in state prison, though the first year was to be served in federal custody.