JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Nearly six months after being sentenced in the “largest fraud case” in Jacksonville history, ex-JEA CEO Aaron Zahn turned himself in on Monday and is now serving out the sentence in a medium-security prison in South Carolina.

Court records show Zahn, 45, is booked at FCI Edgefield, a prison with a population of 1,707 male inmates, in Edgefield County, South Carolina. Upon release, he will serve a year of probation. Federal Judge Brian Davis also sentenced Zahn to participate in a substance abuse program and a mental health program while on probation.

On July 30, 2024, Zahn was sentenced to four years in prison for conspiracy to embezzle federal property and wire fraud charges; he was convicted on the charges on March 15, 2024. He essentially attempted to swindle Jacksonville’s electrical utility — the largest public utility in the state of Florida — out of hundreds of millions of dollars in 2019.

Former JEA CFO Ryan Wannemacher was also on trial facing the same charges, but had a different jury from Zahn. He was found not guilty.

During Zahn’s sentencing, Davis said he had never seen so many letters submitted to the court vouching for someone’s character.

He thanked the “scores” of people who wrote to the court: “Friends and family, friends of friends, friends of family… old girlfriends, church members, a person whose life [Zahn] saved.”

Davis said, however, only one letter mentioned something he sees all the time: “Good people can, and do, make bad decisions.”

“The last thing I will share about my observations about humanity that has application to your [Zahn’s] circumstances is this: Human beings are capable of deception,” Davis said, going on to say, “The combination of deceit and greed can blind good people to the error of their ways.”

If Zahn succeeded in his scheme, Davis said, the citizens of Jacksonville would have lost their “most valuable asset” while the ex-CEO profited.

Davis also spoke of Zahn’s responsibilities as a public official during his sentencing, saying, “Deviations from that trust are intolerable.”