(Source: nj.com) NEWARK -- The wife of an ex-Bayonne police officer who beat a handcuffed man was sentenced today to one year of probation for her part in a scheme to illegally obtain a $20,000 federal housing loan.

Rose Lillo fought back tears as she apologized to U.S District Court Judge Kevin McNulty and pleaded to be allowed to stay with her family.

"I have never asked anyone for anything in my 45 years," Lillo said. "My husband and my daughter are my life," she said.

Earlier this year, Lillo, the wife of ex-Bayonne police officer Domenico Lillo, admitted that she helped make a to false application to obtain U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds.

In April 2012, Rose Lillo and her husband helped a relative file a loan application with Bayonne's Department of Community Development, an agency that receives federal money, authorities say.

They said the application falsely claimed the relative, who had Social Security and pension income of $24,985 annually, would be the sole resident of a house they purchased on West 49th Street. The relative's income level made him eligible for the federal loan, authorities said.

The Lillos moved into the newly purchased home, while the relative remained in the couple's prior home...