The 23-year-old former Penn State student who pleaded guilty to entering the dorm rooms of 12 female students and indecently assaulting six of the women in September 2000, was sentenced to serve 11 1/2 months in county prison Tuesday, and could still face deportation.

Hung "Tim" Truong was sentenced before Centre County Court Judge David E. Grine to serve 11 1/2 months and up to 23 months of probation.

District Attorney Ray Gricar said he was satisfied with the sentence Truong received.

"It's the sentence that I asked for," Gricar said.

Truong's defense attorney, Joe Amendola, said the sentence he received was fair considering the charges brought against him.

"I think we feel the sentence was appropriate considering the numbers and nature of the charges against him," Amendola said.

Early in September 2000, Truong was arrested after he entered 12 female dorm rooms and indecently touched six women in them. Truong's lawyer said alcohol was a factor.

"It's unfortunate that a young man went out and got drunk -- it doesn't change the fact he did what he did," Amendola said.

The threat Truong originally faced was being deported back to his native country of Vietnam.

Immigration and Naturalization Service would have been able to automatically deport Truong if he had been sentenced to more than one year in jail, Amendola said.

Although Truong faces less than one year in a Dauphin County jail, the possibility of deportation still exists.

The sentence always has a minimum and maximum sentencing time period, Gricar said.

"He'll spend 11 1/2 months in jail and when he gets out, he'll spend the next 12 months on parole," Gricar said.

Now, Truong's stay in the United States depends on the decisions INS makes.

"It's more of a judgment call on the INS's part," Gricar said. "He's not out of the woods by any means."

Whether or not Truong will be deported is a "whole separate issue," Amendola said.

"We don't know what will happen next," Amendola said. "Certainly they can bring their own actions against him."

Truong is living with his parents in Harrisburg and will begin serving his sentence Dec. 17.

Truong is eligible for work release so he will "basically support himself," Amendola said, while serving his sentence.

Amendola said Truong's father was a former Vietnamese naval intelligence officer in the Vietnam War and considering the father's past discrepancies with the Vietnamese government, Truong could face harm if he is deported back.

Because Vietnam is still a communist state, "There's no telling what they'll do to him," Amendola said if Truong is sent back to Vietnam.

Jeffrey Yoffe, a Harrisburg attorney who specializes in naturalization and immigration law, said in an earlier interview that the INS usually lets the person serve out the state sentence, then they put a detainer on the person's file at the jail. That way, the prison knows not to release the person until INS decides what steps they will take in regard to deportation, he said.

The INS is a service that conducts immigration inspections of travelers entering or seeking entry to the United States as they arrive at officially designated ports of entry, according to the INS Web site (www.ins.usdoj.gov). It regulates permanent and temporary immigration to the United States. The INS also works with other federal, state and local enforcement agencies to uphold the laws of the United States, the site said.