A federal judge sentenced a former executive director of the Hawaii Center for Independent Living to 21 months in prison Thursday for embezzling nearly $180,000 in federal grant money from the now-defunct nonprofit organization, which provided services to people with disabilities.

In addition to the prison term, Mitchell J.W. Keawe Jr. must repay the U.S. Department of Education the $179,222 he stole from HCIL between October 2011 and December 2013. The U.S. DOE had awarded HCIL hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants.

Keawe, 61, pleaded guilty to the theft in June.

U.S. District Court Senior Judge Helen Gillmor said Keawe spent the money on personal expenses, including family vacations and his daughter’s wedding.

Assistant Federal Defender Shanlyn Park asked Gillmor to give Keawe a sentencing break because he suffers from multiple physical and mental health problems. She said Keawe takes more than a dozen types of medications for his various health ailments, including Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and edema. Park said Keawe has been experiencing epileptic seizures and difficulty with balance since suffering a stroke in February. And she said Keawe has been completely blind in one eye since 2009.

Park said Keawe is not responsible for HCIL going out of business because the organization had had financial difficulty since its inception, before Keawe became executive director.

That makes the crime even worse, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Sorenson told Gillmor, because Keawe stole from HCIL when he knew the organization was in financial trouble.

“It was a calculated theft over a period of time and a horrific breach of trust,” he said.

Gillmor said if Keawe was not responsible for HCIL’s demise, he at least contributed to it by stealing from the organization. She said Keawe breached the trust others had bestowed on him not only because he was executive director, but also because he is a high-ranking ordained church minister.

Keawe chose not to speak at his sentencing.

He has two prior state convictions for theft.