A Superior Court judge sentenced a former state public assistance worker Friday to two years in jail for stealing more than half a million dollars from the state.
Chona Agtarap, 36, was accused of siphoning $654,000 over several years while she worked as a case evaluator for the state health department. Prosecutors say the money went to pay for such items as video game systems and cars.
Agtarap's public defender, Zachary Brown, said the embezzlement began as an act of desperation. Agtarap was the sole breadwinner in a large family looking for a way to cover her mounting medical bills, he said.
"What started this whole thing was a $100,000 debt. ... Agtarap had a rare form of Hodgkin's disease and other forms of cancer," Brown said.
But those bills amounted to only a fraction of the money Agtarap stole, said prosecutor John Skidmore.
"Where did the rest of that half a million dollars go?" he asked. "It went to cars. Two vehicles. It went to three four-wheelers. It went to computers. It went to guitars and amplifiers."
The money embezzled from state coffers paid for seven video game systems and for Agtarap to furnish and maintain a residence in Anchorage as she traveled between there and her home in Kodiak, the prosecutor said.
Agtarap worked in Anchorage in a job responsible for checking public assistance cases for accuracy and completeness. When confronted by Alaska State Troopers in March, she admitted she authorized payments to herself and cashed or deposited the checks.
Prosecutors dismissed charges of theft and fraudulent use of an access device. Agtarap pleaded guilty to a charge of scheming to defraud.
At Friday's sentencing hearing Judge Michael Wolverton said he was concerned that Agtarap's theft would give people who are suspicious of the public assistance agency -- which is tasked with giving public money to needy Alaskans -- a reason to say it can't manage itself.
But in handing down a sentence of 10 years with eight suspended, Wolverton said he didn't think Agtarap would get in trouble again. "If I were a betting man, I'd bet you never do anything like this again," he said.
Agtarap began working for the Division of Public Assistance in January 2003. By the time she was arrested, she was making $48,516 a year as an eligibility technician III, according to the state Division of Personnel.
At the sentencing hearing she apologized to the state and to her family, including her children. She has a bed and three meals a day in prison, while they are the ones struggling, she said.
Agtarap's family members watched the hearing from a wooden pew in the courtroom, one child rolling a plastic toy skateboard along the seatback in front of him.
A Department of Health spokesman said the only official who could answer questions about the case, such as why Agtarap was able to embezzle money undetected for five years, was unavailable Friday.
By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com