ORLANDO, Fla. -- An Orlando man who was working as a technician at Florida Hospital described what it was like to live a "fake" life while being on the lam for 35 years and said he should be helping others instead of being imprisoned.

Michael Rinehart was found last year after he walked away from a hospital, where he was taken from jail by corrections officers to be treated for a medical condition in 1973.

"As well as I remember, someone ask me if I wanted to go smoke, and I went out to smoke and I never went back," said Rinehart, who was 23 years old at the time and was serving five years for grand theft.

Rinehart said he worked as a field hand on farms throughout Florida.

"There was this Mexican family that befriended me and took me in, and the gentleman that was the head of the family was a migrant worker and showed me where to work and what do to do and helped train me," said Rinehart, who assumed a false identity as Harold Sexauer.

He went on to earn an associate's degree from Hillsborough Community College, a bachelor's degree from the University of South Florida and a neurodiagnostic technician degree.

In 2002, Rinehart landed a job at Florida Hospital's neurological department, serving as a technician and helping hundreds of patients suffering from sleep disorders, epilepsy and other disorders.

"It bothered me every day. I knew eventually they would wind up catching me," Rinehart said. "You never know from day to day whether this is going to be the last day of freedom or not."

Rinehart said he felt like he was making a difference for patients in pain, but 35 years after his escape, he got a knock on his apartment door from cold-case detectives and he knew his new life was over.

"Despair, sadness, knew it was all over with," said Rinehart, describing the feelings he experienced. "It was a tough day to swallow. It's gotten worse. Day by day you have to live incarcerated and it's just not pleasant," he said.

Rinehart is serving the remainder of the five-year term that began in 1971, saying the hardest part has been leaving behind the patients he cared for and co-workers he called friends.

"It's just hard to not be around them anymore. They were very good people (and) gave me a lot of good direction in my life," said Rinehart, who is scheduled to get out of jail in 2011 on conditional release.

Friends and co-workers who knew Rinehart as Sexauer wrote letters and strong recommendations to the state, saying he did not deserve to be jailed again.

"I believe that Michael has paid his debt to society through his work and has also proven the he can live out the rest of his life as a law-abiding citizen," a man wrote.

"There must be a better way than imprisonment for Michael to pay back for his mistake of 35 years ago," a woman wrote.

"This man does not belong in prison. He has helped many hundreds of people. He has spent the past 35 years redeeming himself. I pray that you see that justice will not be truly served until this man is freed," another woman said.

Nearly a dozen similar letters were forwarded to the Parole and Pardons Board, but Rinehart said he has not heard from the state about a potential early release.

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