PRINCESS ANNE — If the company that bonded Princess Anne’s former town manager wants to seek reimbursement for its losses it will have to file a civil action.

Senior Carroll County Judge Raymond E. Beck, who sentenced Deborah Hrusko to serve two years on a 10-year sentence, said had the town not recovered its losses he would’ve "without question" awarded restitution but he did not "feel comfortable" doing so within the scope of this criminal case.

Hrusko was found guilty of felony theft in May after the prosecution proved to the jury that $100,748.93 in cash was diverted for personal use. At sentencing on Sept. 7, Judge Beck in addition to prison time and eight years suspended tacked on five years of supervised probation and 200 hours of community service with restitution to be determined.

At the hearing on Sept. 20 Hrusko appeared in a prison uniform issued by the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW) wearing leg irons and solid bar handcuffs. State’s Attorney Wess Garner acknowledged its unlikely he can recover the $43,000 spent on the forensic audit to prosecute the case but Hanover Insurance Group was out the $103,248.93 it paid the town and there was nothing in the statute that prohibited it to recover its loss.

For the defense Arch McFadden said there is little case law where the insured can recover restitution but there are civil remedies and this was not a civil case.

In addition, he said, Hrusko "surrendered a good portion" of her pension back to the town.

Judge Beck said the insurer could be entitled to payment but it would not be decided by him in criminal court. Hrusko was escorted out of the courtroom and transported back to Jessup to continue her sentence.

Public Defender McFadden has filed an appeal seeking a modification of sentence, and appealed the judgment to the Court of Special Appeals where Office of the Public Defender Appellate Division attorney Brian Zavin has been assigned as Hrusko’s counsel.