The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - A former Ohio Turnpike Commission lobbyist was put on probation for two years on Friday for billing a state pension fund $10,940 for mileage expenses even though he was driving a state car.

"I'm sorry it ever happened," Patrick Patton, 62, told Judge Richard Sheward of Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Mr. Patton received the money for driving from his home in Cleveland to Columbus to attend meetings as a trustee of the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund Board.

The reimbursements covered 1997 into 2002.

Mr. Patton should have given the money to the turnpike commission or not billed the pension fund since he was using a state car, said David Buchman, director of the economic crime unit for the county prosecutor's office.

Mr. Patton pleaded guilty Oct. 24 to theft in office and tampering with records.

The theft charge carried a maximum five years in prison and the tampering charge up to a year.

Mr. Patton finished repaying the money on Friday.

"He served the public for many years without a blemish on his record," said his attorney, H. Ritchey Hollenbaugh.

Mr. Hollenbaugh said Mr. Patton never tried to hide the money and reported it annually on state ethics forms.

He said Mr. Patton did not realize at the time that it was inappropriate to take the money.

Mr. Patton resigned as trustee of the fund in August after an inspector general's report said he worked more than 150 days for the pension fund but on turnpike commission time.

He retired in the same month from his job with the commission.

A report released Aug. 6 by state Inspector General Tom Charles found more than 170 instances of turnpike employees accepting meals, golf outings, professional sports tickets and luxury seats from contractors doing business with the turnpike commission.

Gino Zomparelli, the commission's executive director, resigned three days after the report's release.