The courtroom maneuvers of a former Muddy Creek Township secretary who is in prison for writing herself unauthorized checks has taken another twist.

Dixie Christy, 39, of Cherry Township has withdrawn her request to withdraw her guilty plea.

Instead, Christy now is seeking to get out of prison in favor of a house arrest program.

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.

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.

Later in court, her attorney, Michael Frisk, asserted that the checks in question covered significant overtime Christy had logged due to a change in township offices.

Township officials have said Christy was instructed to do some filing work of sewage records, but that was to be accomplished within her normal work day.

Christy in March pleaded guilty to 103 counts of forgery and one count of felony theft.

Butler County Judge William Shaffer July 6 sentenced Christy to 9 to 18 months in the county jail, followed by 10 years probation. And, he ordered Christy to pay nearly $180,000 in restitution.

Eight days after the sentence was issued, Frisk filed a court request asking to withdraw Christy's plea, claiming she'd entered it under "undue pressures" of financial concerns and fear for her family. The request said Christy was seeking a trial on the allegations.

But the new court documents — filed two days later — state Christy, 'was not coerced in any way to enter said plea."

The new court document states the first request was the result of a miscommunication between Christy, her family and Frisk.

Frisk, the new document states, "was unable to have direct contact with the defendant prior to filing a timely motion and believed from the family's statements that the defendant's intention was to make the request (to withdraw her plea and have a trial)."

Between the two court requests, the court document states, Frisk spoke to Christy in the Butler County Prison, "and ascertained the defendant was not making any claim of innocence or requesting such relief."

The new court documents also reiterate Christy's earlier challenge to the amount of restitution she was ordered to pay.

And it asks that she be released from prison to house arrest with electronic monitoring, so that she may get a job and begin paying restitution.

The judge already gave Christy approval for work release while in jail.

But, the court record claims, she was told by jail officials that "there is a line" to get into the program and therefore it is not immediately available to her.

A court date has not yet been set to hear Christy's new request. The time frame to file any new requests has now expired.

The Eagle was unable to contact Frisk for elaboration. But he said in a telephone message, "The motion speaks for itself."

Assistant District Attorney Patricia McLean, who prosecuted this case, declined to comment.