Fired city Department of the Prosecuting Attorney supervising investigator Craig Whang asked a state judge for a break yesterday in his criminal cases so he can pursue a similar job with the state Department of Public Safety.

The judge said no.

Whang pleaded guilty in July 2008 to two counts of second-degree theft for using city money to buy firearms and firearm equipment for himself, and to two counts of first-degree unauthorized computer access for using city records for his part-time job serving subpoenas.

Craig Whang

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins granted Whang’s request for a deferral of his guilty pleas in November 2008 and placed him under probationlike court supervision for five years. If Whang stays out of trouble, the judge will drop the charges after the five years.

Yesterday, Whang asked Perkins to drop the charges, after just a year and a half of court supervision.

"That’s not long enough," Perkins said.

He said Whang was fortunate to get the deferral and sees no reason to end the deferral period early, especially since Whang has been on medical disability and has not worked at another job since he was fired.

Whang said he has applied for a supervising investigator job with the Public Safety Department’s internal affairs but is not qualified because of the criminal cases.