An Akron firefighter who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his union to bankroll a lavish lifestyle is going to state prison.
Joseph Ruhlin, 41, was sentenced Monday in Summit County Common Pleas Court to two years in prison and ordered to repay the $385,000 he stole from Akron Fire Fighters Local 330 over several years.
Ruhlin, who served as the union treasurer before being caught, was immediately placed in handcuffs and led out of the courtroom as family members embraced and wept.
Family had pleaded with Judge Alison Breaux for leniency and no prison time.
But Breaux, before imposing the sentence, said she struggled to reconcile how family and friends described Ruhlin as generous, caring and trustworthy while at the same time he betrayed colleagues through “years of deception” and “years of fraudulent behavior.”
She told Ruhlin that he lived a double life.
“You did a pretty good job of it because you fooled everybody,” Breaux said.
Assistant Prosecutor Greg Peacock described Ruhlin as a con artist whose motive was greed.