5 Years Given Man Who Was Charged in Disaster

A man whose boat broke a Mississippi River levee, hastening the 1993 flood that nearly wiped out the little town of West Alton, has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Timothy Steinmann, 38, pleaded guilty in July to first-degree property damage. He had been charged with causing a catastrophe, which carries a penalty of life in prison.

A St. Charles County prosecutor said his office agreed to the lesser charge because proving that Steinmann had deliberately rammed his johnboat through a line of sandbags would be difficult.

Steinmann, who was sentenced Monday, had claimed he hit the levee when he swerved his boat on July 7, 1993, to avoid another boat.