Former Hyde Park Central School District athletic director Amy McArdle-Rausenberger was sentenced on Wednesday by the Duchesse County Court to two-to-six years in prison for having stolen $50,000 worth of equipment between July 2009 and August 2016.
McArdle-Rausenberger and husband Scott Rosenberger were arrested in September 2016 after district district-owned equipment was found on their property, including sporting and athletic equipment, medical supplies, energy supplements, office supplies, a GPS and an events tent.
Former Hyde Park Central School District athletic director Amy McArdle-Rausenberger was sentenced on Wednesday by the Duchesse County Court to two-to-six years in prison for having stolen $50,000 worth of equipment between July 2009 and August 2016.
McArdle-Rausenberger and husband Scott Rosenberger were arrested in September 2016 after district district-owned equipment was found on their property, including sporting and athletic equipment, medical supplies, energy supplements, office supplies, a GPS and an events tent.
Police told the Poughkeepsie Journal that the equipment was kept in a free-standing storage unit out of which Rausenberger ran a triathlon and physical training company called Go Fast Get Fit.
The couple was indicted in January on one count of felony second degree grand larceny. In February, they entered pleas of not-guilty before changing them in March.
After the initial indictment, McArdle-Rausenberger, full-time director of athletics, health and physical education at Hyde Park Central School District since October 2004, was transferred temporarily to work in the administration offices. She tendered her resignation in March.
In attempting to explain McArdle-Rausenberger’s actions, Dutchess County Court judge Edward McLoughlin said, “The only reasons I can come up with are there is this brazen kind of arrogance … I have access. No one watches over me … so I’ll just do it because I can get away with it.”
On Wednesday, McArdle-Rausenberger read a letter aloud to the court, stating, “Because of my self-serving actions, I will no longer be able to continue in this career field. And because of my selfish choices, I directly negatively impacted the children of the Hyde Park Central School District and the tax payers of the district.”
Per Judge McLoughlin, McArdle-Rausenberger has already paid $66,989.89 in restitution. Her husband has been sentenced to one year of probation for his part in the crime. Â
