By Paresh Dave

OAKLAND, Calif., Aug 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday sentenced former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski to 18 months in prison for stealing a trade secret from Google related to self-driving cars months before becoming the head of Uber Technologies Inc's rival unit.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco said Levandowski, who was convicted on Tuesday following a March plea deal agreement, said Levandowski could enter custody once the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided.

Alsup said a sentence short of imprisonment would have given "a green light to every future brilliant engineer to steal trade secrets," comparing what Levandowski took to a "competitor's game plan."

Levandowski's conviction is one of the highest-profile for Silicon Valley intellectual property theft.

Levandowski agreed to a plea deal two weeks after filing for bankruptcy. He owes $179 million to Alphabet Inc's Google to settle a dispute arising from his actions before leaving the company in January 2016. (Reporting by Paresh Dave;)