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

Dixie Christy, 39, of Cherry Township withdrew 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, reportedly 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 defense attorney Michael Frisk asserted the checks in question covered significant overtime Christy had logged because of 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 on July 6 sentenced Christy to serve 9 to 18 months in the county jail, followed by 10 years of county probation. And, he ordered Christy to pay nearly $180,000 in restitution.