RIPON, Calif. AP -- For nearly a decade, members of Ripon's First Congregational Church bared their souls to Rev. Randall Radic. But clearly it didn't work both ways--there were things he wasn't telling them.

That became obvious a year ago, when Radic pleaded guilty to secretly selling the church and its rectory out from under them. He used the money to buy himself a new black BMW and a laptop, exploits he later chronicled in a cheeky blog about his double life as a sinner.

"We didn't know anything until we got a call from the bank that he had bought a BMW," said David Prater, who led the church board during Radic's tenure. "He drove that car right down Main Street."

Irate parishioners had been rooting for a long prison term at his sentencing, set for Thursday.

But Radic's lawyer said last week that the 54-year-old former pastor, who spent six months in jail awaiting trial, will not have to serve any more time behind bars because he agreed to testify about the alleged murder confession of another inmate.

Radic was a respected figure in Ripon, population 14,000.

"This is a town with a lot of faith," said Navid Fardanesh, president of the Ripon Chamber of Commerce. "People had a lot of trust in him, and unfortunately he took advantage of the situation."

First, Radic faked documents giving him possession of the parsonage, and used the property to take out about $200,000 in personal loans, prosecutors said. Then he forged papers saying he had the power to sell the church, and sold it to a couple for $525,000.

After investigators began inquiring about the BMW, Radic fled to Denver. Prosecutors coaxed him back, and he was arrested in 2005.

It was in jail that Radic met Roy Gerald Smith, a sex offender awaiting trial in the 2005 slaying of a woman in a death penalty case. In Radic's blog on a now-defunct Internet site, the former pastor suggested that as he gained Smith's confidence, Smith confessed.

Radic soon struck a deal: He would plead guilty to embezzlement and be released from prison, and prosecutors would drop nine other felony charges in exchange for Radic's testimony.

Since Radic was not Smith's pastor, the inmate's incriminating statements are not protected by the usual confidentiality rules involving members of the clergy, said Radic's lawyer, Michael Babitzke.

As he awaited sentencing in his home, Radic started blogging about his personal life. He tried to solicit a literary agent for a tell-all book he called "SNITCH" and spelled out how he fleeced his flock.

He did not find a buyer for "SNITCH," but he did sign a deal last month to publish a book called "The Sound of Meat," billed as a "(fairly) truthful" memoir.
"So, you really want to know which camp I belong to ... right? Saint or ... Sinner?" he wrote on his Web page. "The truth really is a lot more complicated. It leads down the winding paths of the human heart and challenges anyone who follows to defy it."

The church got its title back last year, but the parsonage is still owned by a real estate investor who bought it from Radic. The new pastor, Judy Edwards, lives in a motor home.

"He's very remorseful and regretful about the situation," Radic's lawyer said. "I think he made some egregious mistakes. But in an imperfect world ... people behave imperfectly."