Dream of helping animals on hold?

Animals might have to wait a bit longer to be rescued by David Kornahrens.

A federal judge suggested Tuesday that the convicted counterfeiter could be out of jail and in a halfway house soon. But county prosecutors are pursuing a robbery charge that could land the Ladson man behind bars for up to 15 years.

Kornahrens, 40, told the federal judge he is a changed man after meeting girlfriend Teista Burwell, and he now wants to dedicate his time to helping animals, a cause he apparently picked up while on the lam in Florida.

Kornahrens said he plans to pursue his calling as soon as he completes the 21-month sentence he received after pleading guilty in federal court to passing $6,500 in counterfeit bills. He's served more than half of that time in jail while awaiting trial, so a halfway house soon could be in the cards for him, the judge explained.

First, however, he must get past Charleston County prosecutors, who have been waiting since 2007 to take Kornahrens to court on a strong-arm robbery charge. His next scheduled court appearance is April 18, Ninth Circuit Chief Deputy Solicitor Bruce DuRant said.

Charleston police say Kornahrens robbed a man of a $600 gold necklace in April 2006. The man told police Kornahrens paid him $500 for the jewelry, but the bills were all counterfeit. When the man confronted him, Kornahrens reportedly sprayed him in the face with Mace and took off, according to an arrest affidavit.

During his court appearance on the counterfeiting charges, Kornahrens said he had made some mistakes in life because he got mixed up with the wrong crowd. His lawyer, Joe Mendelsohn, described Kornahrens as a "nice guy who got himself in a jam."

Kornahrens' criminal rap sheet, however, runs some 27 pages long and dates back to 1998. His convictions include crimes such as burglary, harassment, grand larceny, bank fraud and non-custodial parental abduction.

One person who isn't buying his tale of redemption is Burwell's mother, Tina Swain. Swain spent two years looking for her daughter after Burwell disappeared from a parking lot at Northwoods Mall the day after Christmas in 2007. Her family feared the worst until April of last year, when police located Burwell and Kornahrens living in Miami Beach.

Burwell, 24, refused to speak with a reporter this week. Swain said her daughter won't speak to her family either. Burwell, on parole and working at a fast-food restaurant, has rebuffed their attempts to contact her, she said.

"She wants nothing to do with any of us. Nothing," Swain said. "She has never even apologized or acknowledged that we spent two years looking for her."

Swain said she hopes Kornahrens will be sent to prison so her daughter will be free of him. "I do not want him to get out," she said. "I want the judge to make an example out of him."