HAMMOND | The judge is going to jail.

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 the second person to be elected town judge in Schererville in 1999. Not long after she took office, she secretly set up driver education and youth counseling programs and began using her power as judge to mandate criminal offenders attend the classes.

At least 1,175 offenders attended the classes, which put $43,920 into her pocket, Assistant U.S. Attorney Orest Szewciw said.

"How can any citizen who appeared before her believe they received an impartial hearing ... when the judge had a financial interest in the very programs to which the defendants were ordered to attend?" Szewciw said.

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.