WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – A mechanic who fled to Ecuador after he was charged with stealing aircraft parts returned to federal court in Wichita to be sentenced.

Former Cessna Aircraft Co. mechanic Diego Alejandro Paz Teran was ordered to serve 18 months for selling stolen parts on eBay.

Teran was on the lam for two years before returning to the United States to face the charges.

His sentencing comes a week after U.S. District Judge Monti Belot angrily postponed a hearing.

The judge at the time berated the prosecutor over a Cessna employee who was unable to answer questions on the stand about the value of the stolen parts. The amount of the loss affects the possible sentence.

Paz-Teran, 35, Wichita, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen property. In his plea, he admitted he stole aircraft parts from Cessna and sold them on Ebay.

According to court documents, the investigation began in November 2008 when an employee of a Rockwell Collins Company distributor saw a Collins AHC-3000 Attitude Reference Computer offered for sale on eBay for $9,000. Knowing that the part was valued at more than $45,000, he contacted the seller and asked for serial numbers. Cessna tracked the serial numbers to a part that was removed from an XLS Plus aircraft while it was being painted.

Investigators found other stolen aircraft parts being sold on the same eBay account and followed records on the account to Teran at his home in Wichita.