BATON ROUGE - A man was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison after it was discovered he had defrauded an elderly veteran of almost $51,000. 

A U.S. District Judge found Shawn Phillips, 44, guilty of wire fraud after he allegedly befriended the veteran and, over a 16-month period, took advantage of the relationship and continuously requested money from him via wire transfer. Phillips repeatedly told the victim that he was waiting on a "large inheritance" and needed the money to fund his lifestyle until the inheritance came in.

He allegedly even told the man he needed more money to retrieve the inheritance from the court system.

Phillips was never expecting any inheritance. 

After an investigation done by Homeland Security Investigations and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation, Phillips was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison with three years of parole following his release. Phillips is also required to pay the victim the complete amount of $50,718.