An air service businessman on Monday was sentenced to eight months in federal prison for secretly videotaping Michael Jackson as he flew to Santa Barbara with his attorney to surrender in a child-molestation investigation.

Arvel Jett Reeves also was ordered to spend six additional months in a halfway house that offers drug and alcohol rehabilitation treatment, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Shallman. He also must pay a $1,000 (euro790) fine.

Reeves and co-defendant Jeffrey Borer admitted they installed two digital video recorders to record "a professional entertainer" and his lawyer as the pair traveled on a private jet from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara in November 2003, according to their plea agreements filed last September.

The entertainer they recorded was Michael Jackson and his attorney at the time was Mark Geragos, although they are not cited by name in the plea agreements. Jackson was later found not guilty of the child molestation charges.

Borer and Reeves each pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy. As part of the deal, federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss two other charges, endeavoring to intercept oral communication and witness tampering in a three-count indictment filed against them.

Borer's sentencing was postponed to September. U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz agreed Monday to give Borer more time to submit information about his ailing wife.

Borer was the owner of XtraJet, which operated a Gulfstream jet that carried Jackson. Reeves was the owner of Chino-based Executive Aviation, which provided maintenance service for XtraJet's aircraft fleet.

Reeves purchased video and audio equipment and, with the help of a third party, secretly installed the recorders in the airplane's cabin, according to the plea agreement. Borer, who instructed Reeves to obtain and install the equipment, intended "to sell these recordings to the media for a large sum of money," the agreement said.