“Clark Rockefeller” Loses Bid for Reduced Sentence

A German man who called himself Clark Rockefeller and hobknobbed Manhattan's elite while spinning fantastic stories about his past has lost his bid for a reduced sentence in the kidnapping of his 7-year-old daughter.

His lawyer argued Tuesday that Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter should serve two years or less in prison. That's less than half the four- to five-year sentence he received last year.

A prosecutor said the higher sentence was appropriate, given the suffering he caused the girl's mother. It took authorities six days to find Gerhartsreiter and his daughter in Baltimore. The girl was unhurt.

Gerhartsreiter used multiple aliases to move in wealthy circles in New York, Boston and Los Angeles after coming to the U.S. in the 1970s.

He plans to appeal his conviction.