Utica (WSYR-TV) – A former state prison official who admitted that he took off every Friday of work but collected pay will likely never see another day behind bars despite bilking New York’s tax payers out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Howard Dean was sentenced on Wednesday to five years on probation, with the first six months spent in home detention.
In March 2011, Dean pleaded guilty to grand larceny charges.
For 17 years, he left work each Friday, but accepted pay for those days and falsified travel and attendance documents – costing the state approximately $100,000.
When he pleaded guilty, the former Director of the State Department of Correctional Service Food Processing Center in Rome was slated to be sentenced to six months behind bars and then four and a half years on probation.
A judge delayed sentencing because of Dean’s severe health problems, noting that his health care in prison would become a burden to taxpayers.
