The former University of Utah clinic services director will serve 30 days in jail for misusing more than $4,000 in public money.
In May, Susan Rothenberg, 44, pleaded guilty to theft by deception, a third-degree felony, after prosecutors agreed to dismiss two additional second-degree felonies and a class C misdemeanor.Monday, 3rd District Judge William Bohling gave Rothenberg a zero-to-five-year term at the Utah State Prison, but suspended the prison sentence in lieu of a 120-day jail sentence. Bohling also suspended 90 days of the jail sentence and ordered Rothenberg to begin a 30-day jail term July 27.
Rothenberg will be on probation for three years and will pay $4,275 in restitution and a $500 fine. As part of her probation, Bohling ordered her to receive financial counseling through the Consumer Credit Agency.
Rothenberg was charged in December with three third-degree felony counts of theft by deception after an investigation that revealed Rothenberg submitted claims and accepted checks for more than $4,000 for work she claimed was done by her husband at the university's community clinics in late 1996 and early 1997. But investigators found the work was not done or was done by other contractors or university employees.
Rothenberg was also charged with attempted obstruction of justice, a class C misdemeanor, for trying in February to change her husband's Social Security number on the university's vendor list, according to the charges.