The owners of Wisconsin Kitchen Mart treated their longtime bookkeeper more like family than an employee, so when they discovered she had systematically stolen more than $600,000 from the business over five years, the betrayal hurt as much as the financial loss.

Now Mary Radiske will have just as long in prison to rue her broken relationships.

At her sentencing Thursday, Radiske, 47, of Thiensville apologized for the thefts and said she did it to keep her husband, using the stolen money to finance a lifestyle well beyond the couple's means, with new cars, snowmobiles, wines, furnishings, vacations and jewelry.

"I wanted him to be happy. I wanted him to love me," she said, noting the irony that he filed for divorce as soon as she got caught. "I did all this for him and hurt the people who really did care about me."

Prosecutors said there is no evidence Randall Radiske, 47, who worked for Hampton Cabinetry, a related business, ever took part in the embezzlement or even knew it was occurring.

He has been named in a civil suit the company filed soon after learning of the thefts in February 2010. He has refused to answer questions under oath in that case, citing his constitutional right against possible self-incrimination.

He filed for divorce in March last year, but Wisconsin Kitchen Mart has intervened in the case, claiming it suspects most of the couple's assets were bought with the embezzled funds and shouldn't be considered marital property subject to division. It wants the judge to hold both Mary and Randall Radiske responsible for any obligations to Wisconsin Kitchen Mart.

Randall Radiske's attorney did not return a reporter's call for comment.

Prosecutors filed criminal charges against Mary Radiske in August: four counts of theft by embezzlement, for the amounts taken in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Radiske pleaded no contest to three of the four counts in January and was found guilty. Another count was dismissed Thursday.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jean DiMotto sentenced Radiske to five years in prison on the two remaining counts, followed by 10 years of extended supervision, more than double the incarceration recommended by the state. She ordered Radiske, who has paid some restitution, to pay $554,000 more.

"The depth and breadth of dishonesty here is breathtaking in its level of betrayal and greed," DiMotto said.

The judge noted that, according to a pre-sentence report, the embezzlement "nearly brought Wisconsin Kitchen Mart to its knees as a business" and cost other employees raises that could have helped their families on a more fundamental basis than jewelry and travel.

"You ripped off everybody," DiMotto told Radiske, who started with the company in 1995 and was paid less than $40,000 a year in salary.

Wisconsin Kitchen Mart is a 61-year-old family business at 3601 W. Wisconsin Ave. At sentencing, Assistant District Attorney David Feiss called it an economic anchor for a neighborhood on the brink.

"There aren't a lot of other businesses lining up to provide employment in the central city," he said.

According to the criminal complaint:

In February 2010, owner Nancy Rossman discovered that, since 2006, Radiske had written 79 unauthorized checks payable to Radiske's husband, then forged the signatures of Rossman or her husband and co-owner, Jeffrey Rossman, and deposited the checks in her bank account.

Radiske's brother-in-law, Robert Radiske, is the vice president of Hampton Cabinetry, records show.

The checks amounted to $49,268 in 2006, $182,560 in 2007, $172,044 in 2008 and $213,560 in 2009, court records indicate.

But in the company records, Radiske listed the checks as having been written to various vendors of Wisconsin Kitchen Mart.

'Out of control'

When the Rossmans confronted Radiske, she offered no explanation except that the embezzling "got out of control" and the money was all gone.

In its lawsuit, Wisconsin Kitchen Mart names both Mary and Randall Radiske, as well as Chase Bank, Harris Bank and KKCPA and one its accountants, Timothy Singers, who, according to the suit, assured Wisconsin Kitchen Mart he couldn't see how Radiske could embezzle from the company.

An attorney for KKCPA and Singers said they deny any negligence.

Chase Bank has been dismissed from the case after paying $4,000, according to court records. The attorney for Harris Bank did not return messages.

A judge in that case froze the couple's assets during settlement discussions.

At Thursday's sentencing hearing, Mary Radiske's attorney, Barry Boline, said Wisconsin Kitchen Mart offered restitution credit of only 25 cents on the dollar for some assets that Radiske believes are worth far more.