The former head of the state's largest funeral home and cemetery operator will not have to spend any more time behind bars for taking customers' money.

A state judge sentenced former Rightstar Hawaii Management Inc. Chief Executive Officer John Dooley to five years on probation for first-degree theft.

Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall also ordered Dooley, 58, yesterday to spend a year in jail as a condition of his probation but credited him with the more than 600 days he has spent behind bars since his arrest in April 2008. She also ordered him to repay $50,942.

Dooley pleaded no contest in October.

Deputy Attorney General Susan Won said Dooley spent the money on rent and salaries for himself, his wife and his stepson.

“;He had no right to that money. He knew he had no right to that money. He was told by the trustees to return that money,”; she said.

Won said the money was part of $1.4 million Rightstar improperly withdrew from the company's funeral services trust fund.

Dooley said he used $500,000 on company mortgage payments and the rest on salaries and other operating expenses. He said the trustees instructed him to withdraw the money, which the company received from customers after it canceled their contracts.

Dooley formed Rightstar in 2001 to purchase and operate a number of Hawaii cemeteries and funeral businesses that were in bankruptcy. They include Valley of the Temples in Kaneohe, Homelani Memorial Park and Kona Memorial Park on the Big Island, and Maui Memorial Park.

In 2004 the state attorney general sued Rightstar, its officers, including Dooley, and its trustees, including former Gov. John Waihee, seeking a full accounting of the company's trust accounts. The state later took over Rightstar's operations.

In 2008 the attorney general also sued Nevada finance company Vestin Mortgage Inc., which loaned Rightstar the money to buy the cemeteries and funeral businesses, to prevent Vestin from foreclosing on Rightstar's properties.