Everyone agreed yesterday that Sonya Rosenberger, 28, is trying to get her life together.

She's raising young children with her husband near Morgantown, W.Va., and getting good grades at a West Virginia junior college on her way to someday becoming a medical assistant.

But her career is going to have to wait awhile, considering that she's been convicted of stealing $95,500 from WTAE-TV in a two-year scheme.

"I'm glad you're doing well, Mrs. Rosenberger," said Senior U.S. District Judge Maurice Cohill Jr. in denying her request for probation or home confinement, "but we have to see that the law is fairly applied."

Cohill refused her lawyer's request for leniency and gave her 16 months in federal prison. He also ordered her to pay full restitution to WTAE's corporate owners in Charlotte, N.C.

Her mother, Alanna Ridenour, 46, formerly of the Morgantown area but now living in Point Marion, Fayette County, received a year behind bars and a restitution order of $12,000.

Both women pleaded guilty in February to mail fraud in using a computer to create false winning entry forms for a WTAE-TV sweepstakes contest.

Federal prosecutors said Rosenberger repeatedly defrauded the station's "Watch 4 Win More" contest by creating fake claims forms with the winning contest number after the station had televised the number.

Rosenberger created the forms from 2002 through May 2004 for herself, friends and relatives, including her mother, for which Channel 4 paid out prize money.

To participate in the contest, viewers got a five-digit number from WTAE through the mail or online. The station then broadcast the winning numbers.

Rosenberger, who came up with the scheme, apologized to WTAE.

"I take full responsibility," she said. "I have all intentions of completing my education and paying back what I owe."

Her lawyer, Jay T. McCamic, argued that putting her in prison wouldn't serve any purpose and would "derail" her attempts to finish her education and become a productive member of society.

Federal Public Defender Penn Hackney made a similar argument for Ridenour, who has temporary jobs in two factories.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke Dembosky said both deserved at least some time in prison. In Rosenberger's case, he said, her theft was not a one-time aberration but a carefully crafted scheme carried out over two years.

And Ridenour, while not the mastermind, has a recent record for bad checks, drunken driving and probation violations that Dembosky said belies her claim that she has turned over a new leaf.

Cohill agreed with the government that Ridenour has not "completely reformed."

As for Rosenberger, he said the scheme was a serious offense that involved a lot of money and deserves jail time.

"I have very few bank robberies that amount to $95,000," he said. "But that's what we have here."