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A wealthy heir sentenced to two years of house arrest in a Fort Lauderdale oceanfront condo for killing two British businessmen in a hit-and-run will end up in jail after all — but likely for a scant few months in an unrelated Illinois case.

Ryan LeVin must surrender himself Monday to a jail outside his former hometown of Chicago to await sentencing for violating parole in another traffic case in which he struck a Chicago police officer during a high-speed chase.

LeVin, 36, will remain jailed until the state’s parole board determines a sentence later this summer, said Cara Smith, chief of staff for the Illinois Department of Corrections. His sentence will likely be less than six months, including time spent awaiting the parole board hearing, Smith said.

LeVin, son of a prominent Chicago couple who made millions selling jewelry, sparked outrage when he was sentenced June 3 by Broward County Circuit Judge Barbara McCarthy to two years of house arrest at the condo his parents own at Point of Americas at Fort Lauderdale beach.

LeVin had pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a Feb. 13, 2009, fatal accident for jumping the curb and running down the businessmen only steps from their hotel on State Road A1A. He was driving a $120,000 Porsche that he is seeking to have returned.

Killed were British businessmen Craig Elford, 39, and Kenneth Watkinson, 48, in town for their pharmaceutical company. Elford had a wife, Claire, and two young daughters. Watkinson left a wife, Kirsty, two sons and a daughter.

LeVin, who initially denied driving the speeding Porsche, faced up to 45 years in prison. But the men’s widows, citing “financial hardship” in letters to the judge, agreed that he stay out of prison as long as he immediately pay them an undisclosed sum to settle a wrongful death lawsuit they had filed against him.

“We have been living in uncertainty and financial need,” Kirsty Watkinson wrote. “The need for restitution does outweigh the need for prison,” McCarthy said.

LeVin initially received probation for the 2006 incident in which the Chicago officer and two motorists were injured. He had permission from the court to travel to Fort Lauderdale to look after his parents’ property, and while there ran over the businessmen and fled.

A Cook County judge revoked LeVin’s probation and sentenced him to two years in prison. He was released after six months and was on parole when Florida police, after a lengthy investigation, charged him with vehicular homicide. LeVin has multiple convictions in Florida, Illinois and Texas for speeding, disobeying traffic lights, improper lane passing, fleeing and eluding police officers, and cocaine possession.

As part of his Florida sentence, LeVin may never drive again, must perform 1,000 hours of community service and wear an electronic monitoring device while at his parents’ condo. He may, however, exercise at one of the condo’s three fitness centers, attend church and go shopping.

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Originally posted by Reverend:
^Shouldn't that be grounds to get the ruling overturned? I mean it's a blatant conflict of interest even if you can't prove that there any corruption going on.

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