NEW CITY - A plea deal was offered Tuesday to a former prosecutor accused of having sex with underage boys, despite the judge's complaint that the maximum sentence for statutory rape is the same as for possession of a stolen credit card.

Rockland County Judge Catherine Bartlett promised a sentence of one to three years in state prison in exchange for a guilty plea from Beth Modica, a former assistant district attorney in Rockland and Queens. The maximum sentence is one and one-third to four years.

Modica also was accused of joining many other teens in booze and pot parties.

The defendant, whose estranged husband is the police chief of Spring Valley, was given two weeks to consider the offer. Her lawyer, Gerard Damiani, said outside court that she would not accept it.

The prosecution had recommended a sentence of a year in the county jail followed by 10 years of probation. Assistant District Attorney Dominic Crispino said he favored that sentence because Modica would be “under the supervision and control of the state until 2018.”

But the judge insisted on state prison, which is considered tougher time but would carry no supervision afterward. Modica would have to register as a sex offender and would lose her law license.

The offer followed Bartlett's announcement that she had received two letters complaining about the possible sentence.

Modica, 44, is charged with statutory rape, criminal sex acts, sex abuse and endangering children. Under the proposed deal, she would plead guilty to the top two counts.

The judge said letter-writers should complain to the state Legislature or the governor, rather than to her, if it bothers them that “possession of a stolen credit card should have the same penalty as raping a child.”

“I don't make the laws,” she said.