A former Minneapolis police lieutenant will spend a year on probation and perform 240 hours of community service for stealing money from an international police group.

Marie Fierck Przynski, 60, of Maplewood was sentenced Tuesday, Feb. 5, by Hennepin County District Judge Marilyn Rosenbaum — the same judge who had once thrown out the woman’s case.

An appeals court reversed Rosenbaum and reinstated the charges. In December, a jury found Przynski guilty of theft by swindle and four counts of forgery.

In sentencing Przynski, Rosenbaum said that if she completed her probation without incident, the five felony convictions would be reduced to misdemeanors.

Przynski chaired a committee organizing an annual conference of the International Association of Women Police. The group scheduled its 2010 event for Minneapolis.

In December 2009, the night before Przynski was scheduled to leave for a 10-day cruise, she withdrew $1,500 cash from the committee’s account at a credit union.

A co-worker discovered the money missing while Przynski was on the cruise. After a supervisor confronted Przynski about the withdrawal upon her return, she falsified a checkbook register and financial records in an attempt to make the withdrawal appear legitimate.

Hennepin County prosecutors filed the case in April 2010. Rosenbaum dismissed it, ruling that Przynski’s supervisor violated her rights by forcing her to answer questions about the case.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals disagreed, saying Przynski never asserted her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. The appeals court reinstated the charges.

Przynski resigned from the police department a few weeks after the theft was discovered. She had been named Officer of the Year in 2002 by the Minnesota Association of Women Police.