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Friday, July 11, 2008

Ind. Courts - More on: "Former Schererville judge to be sentenced today"

Updating this ILB entry from yesterday, Joe Carlson reports today in the NWI Times:

Former Schererville Town Judge Deborah Riga was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in prison -- substantially less time than she could have received for sending more than 1,000 of her defendants into programs from which she personally profited.

Defense attorney Nick Thiros pleaded for less prison time, arguing that the 51-year-old former judge -- his longtime colleague and friend -- was an honest-minded person who allowed herself to be corrupted by "political hacks" all around her.

"She relied on political people to sort of show her the way, and we know that's not right," Thiros said, urging U.S. District Judge Philip Simon to give Riga just five months in prison.

Thiros described Riga as a kind of reformer who came into a town court that had been created as a "political reward" and tried to use it for positive programs that helped youths and senior citizens. More than 30 people wrote letters to the court on her behalf.

Simon didn't buy it.

"This is not the fault of any political hack. This is the result of choices that you made, Ms. Riga, and it amounts to an abdication of your office," the federal judge told the former town judge. "It's really an affront to the citizens who elected you."

In addition to serving about 85 percent of her prison sentence, Riga will pay $12,120 in restitution to Schererville and the state. She was ordered to surrender to prison Sept. 23. * * *

Riga was eligible for up to four years in prison, but prosecutors agreed to compute her sentence using more lenient rules that were in place in 2002, which decreased her sentence by at least a year.

Another year was taken off the sentence because of her cooperation in the prosecution of former political ally Robert Cantrell, who was convicted last month of 11 counts of fraud.

Riga now lives in Florida, working on a management training program.

Andy Grimm of the Gary Post-Tribune writes:
HAMMOND -- Nearly four years after she was indicted for extortion and fraud, former Schererville Town Judge Deborah Riga was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in federal prison.

Riga pleaded guilty two years ago to funneling fees from defendants she sentenced to a driving school she secretly owned and to demanding kickbacks from a counseling firm that worked with her court.

Arguing for a more lenient sentence, defense attorney Nick Thiros said Riga had been a well-intentioned civil servant until shady political advisers steered her wrong. * * *

Judge Philip Simon decided to split Riga's sentence into five-month blocks of prison time, home detention and supervised release so Riga would not lose her job in Sarasota. * * *

"I could not understand what would motivate you to do this for what is really a paltry sum ... whether it was arrogance or hubris," Simon said. "The citizens of Schererville, and more generally, of Indiana, deserve better."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 11, 2008 08:29 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts