MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) – A disbarred attorney and former South Bend city council member convicted of forging the names of other lawyers on court documents won't be spending any time in prison unless he gets in further trouble.

Magistrate Larry Ambler on Wednesday sentenced Rodney Sniadecki to four years in prison, but then suspended the sentence and ordered him to serve two years on non-reporting probation. 
 
The South Bend Tribune reports the 47-year-old Sniadecki asked Ambler to not sentence him to prison, saying his life already was in ruins.
 
Prosecutors said Sniadecki asked his legal assistant to forge signatures of other attorneys so his practice could continue generating revenue while he was suspended. Sniadecki claimed his assistant did so without his knowledge.

He was disbarred in 2010.