The man who made a near $250,000 profit in a land deal with the state pleaded guilty Monday to two misdemeanor charges.

The plea negotiation, struck just prior to opening statements in Richmond County Superior Court, gives Ashby Krouse III two years on probation and a $2,000 fine. The sentence is under the First Offender Act, which means if he successfully completes the probationary period no conviction will be registered against him.

The plea agreement also requires Mr. Krouse, 53, to refrain from using his Georgia real estate appraisal license and broker license during the next two years.

The state began an investigation of Mr. Krouse's sale of swampland to the state after The Augusta Chronicle uncovered the deal in 2005. Mr. Krouse bought the land for $25,000 and sold it to the state for $265,850.

Senior Assistant Attorney General David McLaughlin said after Monday's sentencing that he and Assistant Attorney General Laura Pfister were confident they could have proven the original charges of forgery and making false statements. Monday's plea negotiation, however, accomplished the twin goals of getting a conviction and getting Mr. Krouse out of the real estate business for two years.

Mr. Krouse pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction for inconsistent testimony he gave under oath, and for submitting a document that wasn't what he represented it to be.

Lead defense attorney Pete Theodocion said there were a number of inconsistencies in witnesses' statements, probably because of the passage of time between when Mr. Krouse obtained the 98-acre site in south Augusta and when he sold it to the state of Georgia for use as wetlands.

The original deal was so ordinary that no one could remember the deals with specificity two years later, Mr. Theodocion said.

Mr. McLaughlin said there was no evidence that the sale of the land to the state was criminal.

There's no explanation for why the state Department of Transportation set its sights on that particular piece of land, but there's no evidence that anyone was coerced or entered into any conspiracy either, he said.

The state's own appraiser set the value of the land before Mr. Krouse was paid $265,850.

The original indictment accused Mr. Krouse of forgery and making false statements in documents submitted to the county government in the assessment and sale of the 89 acres in September 2002.

According to the investigation by The Chronicle , the day after Mr. Krouse obtained the property he met with a DOT biologist to discuss selling the property for wetlands. The meeting was set up by his father-in-law, former state Sen. Don Cheeks, who was a member of the Senate's transportation committee.

The committee's duties center on issues affecting the state's highways, railroads and inland waterways.

Monday's guilty pleas concerned Mr. Krouse's obstruction of the state's investigation of the land deal in 2005 and 2007.

Mr. Theodocion said the defense team is pleased with the outcome.

"We tried for a long time to work it out and we finally worked out an agreement that both sides could live with."

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.