PARIS, Maine — A Norway man has been ordered to pay the state more than $21,000 for collecting unemployment benefits while he had a job, but he won’t have to spend any time behind bars.

Michael Walker was given a three-year suspended sentence and three years of probation at sentencing Tuesday in Oxford County Superior Court after pleading guilty to theft by deception.

The Sun Journal reports that he had faced up to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors say the 31-year-old Walker collected more than $14,000 in unemployment benefits from the Department of Labor between Jan. 9, 2012, and Feb. 23, 2013 while he worked for a South Paris construction company.

He was also fined $7,000.

Prosecutors say Walker has been making repayments for the past year and half since his indictment.


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