New Jersey Superior Court Judge Patrick Roma decided Thomas Rica won’t be going to jail, but he will be paying the village of Ridgewood, New Jersey $2,000 a month for his five years’ probation. Ridgewood will also keep the $4,000 found during a search of Rica’s home.
The sentencing took a little longer than expected after Rica pleaded guilty in March of 2014 because prosecutors negotiated to make sure he paid back as much money back to the village as possible.
Rica worked for the village for 10 years as a public works inspector, CBS reports. Rica was fired from his job when he was arrested for stealing $500 worth of quarters from the village’s parking meter collection room. Investigators later found that he stole a lot more than that, to the tune of $460,000.
That’s a whopping 1.8 million quarters.
Rica repeatedly apologized at his sentencing hearing. He will face a prison term of three to five years if he misses any of the $2,000-a-month payments.
