Six months of home detention plus federal probation is an appropriate sentence for Terri Jabs Kurth, a Billings businesswoman who admitted allowing friends to snort cocaine in her homes, her attorney said Wednesday.

Kurth, 43, along with her companion, Robert L. Eddleman, 51, former Carbon County attorney, are to be sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Billings. They pleaded guilty in March to an indictment charging them with conspiring to maintain premises for drug use.

Prosecutors accused the pair of buying cocaine and making it available to friends at parties they hosted at their homes in Billings and Red Lodge. The conspiracy ran for about four years until September 2008.

In a sentencing recommendation filed Wednesday, Kurth's attorney, Robert Kelleher Jr., said a sentence of six months in home confinement followed by probation would provide respect for the law. The term would be at the low end of a guideline range if the judge follows a recommendation by the government.

Kurth, the daughter of Jake Jabs, founder of the Colorado-based American Furniture Warehouse, has never been in trouble. She "bitterly regrets'' using cocaine, primarily because of the effect the charges have had on her two children, Kelleher said. A prison sentence would hurt her children "as much if not more than it would hurt Terri,'' he said.

Kelleher included a portion of a letter Kurth wrote to the judge in which she apologizes.

"What I did was gross and wrong,'' she said. "I knew it was wrong and illegal yet I continued to use cocaine and host gatherings at my houses where my friends could also use cocaine. There is not a minute that passes that I don't regret my actions. The pain I have caused my children and my family is unforgivable.''

Kelleher called Kurth an "upstanding member of the community'' and an independent woman who operates two business. Her businesses, which include interior design, provide jobs for independent contractors, he said. Kurth remodeled the fifth floor of the James F. Battin Federal Courthouse, where the courtroom in which she will be sentenced is located.

Kurth has helped the community with fundraising events, including putting her home on the Heritage Tour to raise money for the Moss Mansion, he said. She supports the Yellowstone Art Museum, Family Service Inc., the Red Cross and Dress for Success.

Kurth will have a felony record the rest of her life and she poses no risk of committing another crime, Kelleher said.

Both Kurth and Eddleman face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a maximum $500,000 fine.

Eddleman's attorney has recommended he serve a 10-month sentence.

The case is related to a bigger cocaine-trafficking investigation in which others, including Domingo Baez, 39, of Billings, have been indicted. Baez is accused of trafficking 5 kilograms, or about 11 pounds, of cocaine and is awaiting trial. Prosecutors said Eddleman and Kurth associated with Baez.

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