Judge C. Darnell Jones II also ordered Kramer to pay a $75,000 fine and to speak to Philadelphia-area law students on professional and corporate responsibility.

Kramer faced a maximum six months in prison for his guilty plea in June to one criminal misdemeanor charge of engaging in a pattern of employing at least 50 illegal immigrants.

Kramer didn't admit to actually knowing of the scheme, which spanned several years, to employ undocumented Mexican workers at Mace car washes in Bryn Mawr, Norristown, Flourtown, and Cherry Hill. But he admitted that he should have known, because he was the chief operating officer in the car-wash division.

On the day that federal immigration and labor investigators raided the car washes in March 2006, the outlets employed 50 illegal Mexican workers.

Former car wash regional manager Nicholas Sama was sentenced on Thursday to five years' probation, with nine months of home confinement, for his role in the illegal-worker scheme.

Kramer remains employed at publicly traded Mace, which is based in Horsham and best known for its defensive pepper spray. Jones said Kramer had to use his own money, and not Mace funds, to pay the $75,000 fine.