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A Rockville man will serve 58 days in jail for attempting to spread oil on the Montrose Road ramp off Interstate 270 as part of an alleged plot to make police cars crash in March, his attorney said.

Jonathan W. Crane was sentenced Thursday by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Paul H. Weinstein to three years in jail, but will only have to serve 90 days and will be credited for 32 days already served, said David E. Grover, Crane's Rockville attorney.

Crane will begin serving the sentence Dec. 18 and will likely spend it at the county's Pre-Release Center in Rockville, which allows inmates to leave during the day for work, he said. That determination will not be made until he reports to jail to begin serving his sentence, he added.

Weinstein also placed Crane on probation for three years and told him he must attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, Grover said. Crane was intoxicated at the time of the March incident, and admitted in court last week that he has a drinking problem, his attorney said.

Crane, 34, pleaded guilty to attempted reckless endangerment on Nov. 2, Grover said. He added that he and Crane felt the sentence was fair.

Seth Zucker, spokesman for the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office, confirmed that Crane was sentenced to 90 days in jail with credit for time served, but did not want to comment further on the case.

The sentencing had originally been set for Friday but was moved one day earlier due to a scheduling conflict, Grover said.

Crane, of the 600 block of Ivy League Lane, was charged March 13 with first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and dumping a hazardous substance on a highway. A police officer had seen him walking on the Montrose Road ramp toward I-270 carrying a container, which was later found to contain chain oil, the Maryland State Police Rockville barrack reported. More oil containers were found farther up the ramp, but none of the substance had been smeared on the road.

The incident came about six months after Crane was charged with pouring oil in the same location, which had caused several cars, including one state police cruiser, to sustain damage, state police said. Crane was charged at that time with first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and unlawfully discharging a hazardous substance on a highway to endanger others, state police said. He pleaded guilty Feb. 17 to reckless endangerment and was placed on two years of probation for the October 2008 incident, Grover said.

Grover's guilty plea on Nov. 2 represented a violation of his probation, but Weinstein did not penalize him, Grover said.

Grover noted that Crane told Weinstein he had no vendetta against any police officers and did not wish to be back in court again.

"I really think he's well on his way to doing the right thing and becoming a productive member of society," Grover said, adding his client is a smart and hard-working man who runs his own computer business. "He has a lot to offer and I think he's learned his lesson."