FORT PIERCE, Fla. --
A former St. Lucie County firefighter who pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing a Melbourne man's amputated foot and leg from a crash scene was sentenced to six months of probation and community service.
VIDEO: Firefighter Sentenced IMAGES: Strange Stories
Cindy Economou, 38, said Karl Lambert's lower left leg was "an unrecognizable mass of flesh" when she recovered it from the wreckage of a two-vehicle collision on Interstate 95 in Port St. Lucie in September.
Rescue crews amputated the limb to free Lambert from the wreck. Police said Economou put the limb in her freezer, presumably to use in cadaver dog training.
The 14-year veteran firefighter said she meant no harm when she took the limb home to use it to train the cadaver dogs she raised on a volunteer basis, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.
"I'd like to apologize to Mr. Lambert for my actions," she said. "It was not meant to be malicious or criminal in any way."
Economou had faced up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine if convicted at trial on one count of petit theft, a second-degree misdemeanor.
In addition to about $300 in court costs, St. Lucie County Judge Philip Yaccuci also ordered Economou to perform 50 hours of community service by talking to schools and hospitals about her life.
The judge granted her attorney's request to withhold adjudication, meaning a conviction won't show up on Economou's record.
About five dozen friends wrote letters of support, outlining Economou's work with disabled children and emergency rooms, and four spoke in court on her behalf.
"Everyone in life makes bad judgments and you seriously made a bad judgment, but in my opinion, the life you've led up to this point greatly outweighs that bad decision," Yaccuci said.
Prosecutor Gayle Braun argued that Economou did not follow department protocol, which said she should have sent the foot to the same hospital as the patient to the hospital once it was freed. Economou's superiors denied that they gave either overt or tacit permission to take the foot home, Braun said.
Lambert, who faces surgery next week to adjust a prosthetic limb he received earlier this year, told the judge the incident forever changed his life.
His attorney, Ray Christian, said he nonetheless thought the sentence was fair and that Lambert was appreciative of Economou's work to save his life the day of the crash. A civil suit against Economou and the St. Lucie Fire District is pending, he said.
