Butler County has exhausted its efforts to rehabilitate a city man with a drug problem, Judge Timothy McCune decided Thursday.

The county has spent $64,000 in those efforts.

And so, McCune sentenced 48-year-old Timothy Saeler to serve 2½ to 5 years in state prison for possessing a controlled substance.

Saeler in court claimed he was using a steroid because he was body building. He said he didn’t equate it with illegal substances like narcotics.

But Saeler’s probation officer told the judge that there’s been some problems in the three years that Saeler has been under supervision for his fourth drunken driving conviction.

The probation officer testified that Saeler has been in and out of rehabilitation programs and hospitals, and still, during that time Saeler tested positive at different times for use of alcohol, suboxone, oxycodone and zanax.

The steroids at issue were in Saeler’s possession while he was staying at a residential recovery house in Butler with other recovering addicts, court officials said.

The probation officer estimated that between county programs and grants, $64,061 of taxpayer money has been spent on Saeler’s rehabilitation in the past three years.

The judge noted that many of the county programs Saeler already tried are generally effective and have helped other people rehabilitate. But in Saeler’s case, the judge decided, it was time to move on to whatever programs the state facility could offer him.