A New London Superior Court judge on Thursday denied a request by Norwich businessman Zane Megos’ attorney to significantly reduce the bond and set new conditions for his release while awaiting appeal of his violation of probation conviction.

Megos, 59, has been incarcerated since Feb. 25, 2016, when he was sentenced to serve the five years of suspended sentence he received in a 2014 plea deal for six misdemeanor larceny charges stemming from a long-standing practice of taking deposits for apartments and houses that never became available for rent or purchase. The state in November decided not to prosecute the underlying charges that led to the violation of probation, but the conviction stands.

Judge Emmet L. Cosgrove denied a four-count motion filed by attorney Kenneth Leary on Thursday, keeping the current bond and conditions set by Judge Omar Williams on Feb. 25, 2016, in place.

In his motion and argument Thursday, Leary cited Megos’ deteriorating medical conditions that he said are not being treated properly in the state prison hospital. Leary said Megos has been hospitalized for 4½ of the past six months and now is in a wheelchair. He cited three medical conditions — Barrett’s Syndrome, an esophagus acid reflux disease; cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection; and dysplasia, abnormal cell growth — the latter two he developed while in prison.

“He is in a wheelchair and poses no threat to the community at this time, nor would he be able to conduct any real estate business in his present condition,” Leary argued.

Leary said repeated delays in Megos’ appeal of his probation violation conviction and the high cash bond of $300,000 set by Judge Williams on Feb. 25, 2016, has meant his client has been incarcerated for over a year awaiting an appeal. Leary said he filed his appeal brief last July, but the State’s Attorney’s Office sought repeated extensions through this past February, and the case is not yet scheduled in Appellate Court.

Assistant State’s Attorney Rafael Bustamante on Thursday objected to Leary’s motion and argued that the appeal status is irrelevant to the motion. Bustamante, while stating he is not a trained health professional, said Megos looked better Thursday than he did a year ago, noting that he has lost a significant amount of weight and was not breathing heavy as he had before.

“It’s a prison, not a weight-loss clinic,” Leary shot back before Cosgrove cut off the attorneys’ exchange.

The violation of probation charges stemmed from an incident in fall of 2014, when Megos accepted deposits from a woman for an apartment on N. Main Street in Norwich that was condemned at the time. When confronted, he repaid the deposits.

Megos was charged with attempted third-degree larceny, criminal impersonation and third-degree forgery. Because of that arrest, the state probation office charged him with six violation-of-probation charges.

In November 2016, the state decided not to prosecute the larceny charges for lack of witnesses but the violation of probation conviction, which followed a two-day hearing that included the victim, Norwich building inspectors and other witnesses, remained.

c.bessette@theday.com