The former Muddy Creek Township secretary who is in prison for writing herself unauthorized checks asked a judge Tuesday to release her on house arrest.

Dixie Christy's incarceration is hurting her husband and children and is proving to be a hurdle to her repaying nearly $170,000 owed in restitution, according to testimony presented in her defense.

Christy, 39, in March pleaded guilty to 103 counts of forgery and one count of felony theft. As of her court appearance Tuesday, she had served 35 days of her 9 to 18 months jail sentence, which will be followed by 10 years of probation.

Assistant District Attorney Patricia McLean in court ardently opposed Christy's house arrest request.

She said the Butler County District Attorney's office initially wanted Christy to serve time in state prison.

The defense hoped for a house arrest penalty so Christy entered a straight guilty plea which called for county Judge William Shaffer alone to determine Christy's sentence.

"Now she wants to renegotiate the plea she agreed to accept," McLean said. "Nine months' jail is incredible mercy that this court showed."

Shaffer said he will rule later on the request after reading the numerous letters of support from Christy's friends and family.

About two dozen people attended court Tuesday in Christy's support. Two people, her husband Dean Christy and friend Jim Thompson, spoke on her behalf, describing her as a devoted wife and mother.

"She's got a family that definitely needs her attention," Thompson testified.

McLean questioned Thompson about his awareness of the defendant having admitted to stealing from the township.

Christy, who had been in charge of township payroll beginning in 2002, supplemented her approved paychecks with more than 100 unauthorized checks to herself between 2005 and 2008, totaling $142,000, according to court records.

Her W-2 payroll records showed her pay swelled from $26,000 in 2004 to $93,800 in 2007.

She resigned when questioned about the extra pay.

Christy's lawyer Michael Frisk has asserted that those checks covered the significant overtime Christy logged due to a change in township offices.

Township officials have denied this. They say Christy was told to do some filing work of sewage records, but that was to be done in her normal work day.

Frisk further argued to the judge that Christy would "exhaustively search" for a job to begin paying the restitution if she was released on house arrest.

Christy testified Tuesday that she did not get a job before going to prison because it was a condition of her bond that she not seek employment that would put her in contact with other people's money.

She said while incarcerated her only work opportunity under a work release program presented a conflict of interest because it involved a manufacturing company in Muddy Creek.

Township solicitor Tom Smith testified that no township officials oppose Christy working in the community.

The defense on Tuesday also asked the judge to reduce Christy's restitution because the insurance company that bonded her never asked for its $147,000 back. Therefore, he argued, it should not be awarded.

Additionally, Frisk argued that Christy should not be charged for the auditing or legal fees that the township would have to absorb regardless of his client's conduct.

McLean said it is the prosecutor's duty to seek to reimburse Christy's bonding company whether it asks for the money or not.

McLean said the restitution will be lowered by about $5,000 because the township successfully appealed one of the Internal Revenue Service penalties that had been charged because of Christy's conduct.

McLean said if future appeals are successful, prosecutors would again lower the restitution tally.

But McLean noted that the township is incurring additional accounting costs to continue "appealing the mess that she created."