A former information technology specialist for the Howard County Public School System was sentenced to two years in prison Friday, Aug. 5 for stealing at least $210,000 worth of computers and supplies.

Tina Marie Eiser, 50, of Glen Burnie, embezzled computers, parts and software while she worked for the county's public schools, selling them on eBay through an account registered under her daughter's name.

In what he called one of the most challenging decisions of his career, Howard County Circuit Court Judge Louis A. Becker sentenced Eiser, who pleaded guilty March 14, to 15 years in the Howard County Department of Corrections.

Becker acknowledged the myriad "external factors" in the sentencing that stemmed from Eiser's health; she suffers from multiple sclerosis, among other medical problems, which caused the defense to push for home imprisonment.

But the judge said Eiser still exploited a position of trust in the school system.

"It's the public till," he said. "This isn't a one-victim situation."

Becker suspended all but two years of her sentence and delayed the sentence's start. Eiser is scheduled to report to the county's Detention Center Nov. 7.

Eiser began working as an IT specialist for the school system in 1991. Between 2001 and 2009, she made more than $300,000 selling school system supplies, police said.

Police began investigating Eiser in September 2009 after one of her colleagues informed the system of her actions. Eiser was placed on administrative leave with pay in December 2009 and fired from the school system in October 2010.

Besides multiple sclerosis, Eiser also battles depressive and obsessive-compulsive tendencies, said Bruce Rosenblum, a Columbia psychiatrist who has been seeing Eiser monthly since 2007, when she sought help for an opiate addiction. Additionally, he said, she suffers from hypertension and diabetes.

Eiser is currently on several medications, Rosenblum testified, including buprenorphine, an opiate replacement. Because of Eiser's long list of ailments, Rosenblum said, and because medication may not be properly administered in jail, the possibility of her incarceration concerned him.

"She's in a tenuous, fragile medical state," he said. If medication were taken away, he warned, "she would go through serious, debilitating opiate withdrawal. There needs to be an ongoing treatment. It would be a danger medically for her to be without that."

State prosecutor Colleen McGuinn said that while Eiser's story is a "sad commentary of human frailty," it did not excuse her from being accountable for her crimes.

"I can't think of a more admirable victim" than the employees and students of the county public schools who were indirectly affected by Eiser's thefts, McGuinn said.

Tearful apology

Eiser, in tears, apologized for her actions.

"I'm so sorry for everything I've done," she said. "I've never done anything wrong in my entire life until now. I ruined my life. I ruined my daughter's life. I've always tried to be a good person. I don't know what made me do the things I did. … I got carried away. I will continue to punish myself for the rest of my life for what I've done."

Defense Attorney Richard Miller urged Becker to consider home detention for Eiser because of her condition. He said she not only expressed remorse, but was already in a self-imposed prison in her home.

"She's deteriorating," he said. "She's lost weight, she's down to skin and bones. Her mother said she's down to one meal a day."

Additionally, Miller said, Eiser's case of MS has left her with numbness in her left arm and leg. Eiser leaned on a walker for support outside the courtroom after the sentencing.

Becker said that while opiate withdrawal is not pleasant, most people can get through it. Becker added he would be in contact with the Department of Corrections to ensure Eiser could receive adequate care during her sentence.

Eiser will also serve five years probation and was ordered to pay restitution to the school system.

Patti Caplan, school spokesperson, said that any restitution would be appreciated.

"That money belongs to the taxpayers," Caplan said. "It'll be wonderful to be able to use it for the purpose intended, to support our students and their education."