Woman gets prison time for stealing cash

CINCINNATI (AP) — A judge has sentenced a woman to 18 months in prison for stealing $178,000, including $28,000 from her local PTA.

Michelle Paluga, 43, of Colerain Township in suburban Cincinnati, must also serve five years of probation, pay $48,000 in restitution and perform 500 hours of community service.

Paluga begged Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Dennis Helmick to allow her to serve her entire sentence at home on probation.

But Helmick refused, saying Paluga had stolen the money over 21‚Ñ2 years, including stealing from her company and school children, and destroyed documents to cover her tracks.

Paluga was an accounts payable clerk at Carew International, a Norwood sales training company.

Paluga in June pleaded guilty to tampering with records and two counts of theft in exchange for prosecutors’ dismissing four other charges.