Becky Grey said part of the reason she wanted a swimming pool was for therapy for her arthritis and a herniated disk in her back.

But, in the end, instead of rest and relaxation, Grey said her pool project's unexpected costs forced her to take a second job.

After hearing from Grey, Butler County Judge William Shaffer Thursday ordered Grey's original contractor, Tom Hodak of Adams Township, to pay nearly $57,000 in restitution to Grey and another customer who had hired him.

Both customers allege Hodak, owner of The Pool Co., took significant down payments, started work, and then never returned.

Hodak, 50, pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced Thursday by Butler County Judge William Shaffer.

Hodak was sentenced to serve 7 years in the county's Intermediate Punishment Program. For the first 120 days of the program, Hodak will be on house arrest with electronic monitoring. For the duration, he will be on probation.

Throughout that time, Hodak must make payments on the restitution: about $35,000 to Grey of Summit Township, and about $22,000 to Frank W. Bogacz of Saxonburg.

"This isn't about the money," Bogacz said after court. "This is about protecting the next innocent victim. The guy who works his whole life and thinks he has an opportunity to give his family a swimming pool."

Bogacz, according to court records, signed a contract with Hodak in February 2008 for a pool he never got.

Grey, who hired Hodak in June 2008, said the contractor left her with a dangerous hole in her yard that eventually needed an $18,500 retaining wall. On top of the $14,490 Grey had given Hodak as down payment, the $2,000 in extra landscaping work to repair the damage Hodak caused and the money she eventually paid another contractor to install a pool, the project eventually forced Grey to refinance her home — twice.

In court documents, she estimated the total cost of the pool project topped $83,000.

"I worry about being able to cosign in the future for student loans due to this," she said.

Hodak's defense attorney, Martin Scoratow, said his client's problems were not a product of a drug problem or gambling.

Rather, Hodak, who is a father of three daughters, had a problem with one job several years ago.

"Things snowballed" as the contractor took money from incoming clients, but used it to try to catch up on jobs already in the works, Scoratow said.

"He could not keep all of the balls in the air, and everything collapsed," Scoratow said. "It's a very sad thing."

Hodak, who has since lost his home to foreclosure, will give up the company he has run for 30 years except to finish a few jobs already started.

He instead will earn the restitution payments by working for a contractor.

Hodak in court said he was sorry circumstances ended the way they did.

After court, he added, "I had no intent to harm anybody, and I will do everything I can to make this right."