SEOUL >> A South Korean judge says she has sentenced a former U.S. diplomat to two years in prison over a swindling scam.

Busan district judge Kim Moon-hee told The Associated Press on Thursday that Dario Sarmiento Tomas was convicted in December of swindling a South Korean woman out of $191,000 with false promises of investment opportunities in the Philippines.

Kim says Tomas swindled money on eight occasions between 2007 and 2008.

She says the former diplomat fled to the Philippines early last year before being caught by local police and handed over to South Korean authorities.

Kim says the United States has stripped Tomas of his diplomatic immunity.

The judge says Tomas has appealed the ruling. No new trial date has been set.