A Slippery Rock woman was sentenced to state prison in Butler County Court on Thursday, after being charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her employer over several years.

Amy I. Early, 49, was sentenced to 14 to 28 months in state prison, followed by 114 months state probation by Judge William Shaffer. She was also ordered to pay $115,598.37 in restitution.

Early previously pleaded guilty to all three counts charged against her — felony forgery and two counts of theft. The agreement left sentencing determination up to the judge.

She was charged by the state police in June 2015, following the investigation of theft between Jan. 1, 2011 and June 10, 2014.

The affidavit of probable cause in the case states that in October 2014, Lee and Linda Ligo, along with their son, Brett Ligo, owner of Ligo Architects in Slippery Rock Township, contacted police regarding theft from their businesses.

The Ligos also owned the Campus Side Apartments before the complex was sold in 2013.

Due to the amount of work created with the apartment complex, the document states that the Ligos hired Early as an assistant to the office manager in 2009, to help with a variety of accounting and administrative tasks with both businesses.

In 2010, that office manager resigned and Early assumed all duties, including oversight and control of all finance and accounting tasks for the businesses and Lee and Linda's personal finances, the document states.

She was authorized to handle payroll, but not to sign checks, the document states.

In June 2014, Early unexpectedly resigned, and after a replacement was hired accounting irregularities were found, the document states.

At the same time, several boxes of unopened mail were found within Early's office, including bank statements, tax notices and bills, and numerous past due tax and other notices began coming for things Early was supposed to have taken care of over the years, the document states.

A forensic accounting investigation was conducted and found several unauthorized disbursement checks to Early with forged signatures, with between $75,044 and $105,965 misappropriated from both businesses and the Ligos personal finances, according to the document.

Police issued a search warrant on a bank account where many of the checks were processed, and determined the account was opened by Early, the document states.

Lee Ligo spoke Thursday saying that in addition, “to the loss that we know about, we spent nearly $500,000 to correct the issues Ms. Early created.

“And we are absolutely positive there is much more money missing,” he said.

Lee Ligo said he ended up losing his architecture and real estate licenses after Early did not pay licensing fees, forcing him to close down his firm for a time, as well as creating issues with the Internal Revenue Service and property taxes after those remained unpaid by Early.

“Any incarceration less than the three years we put up with this would be, I suggest, a miscarriage of justice,” he told the court.

Linda Ligo also spoke, saying through tears that, “what she did to try to cover up what she did is uncomprehensible.”

Brett Ligo said the situation continues “to create a great burden,” and the “disruptive hardship has continued,” as money for his son's college tuition needed to be used to keep the business going.

Early made a statement before the sentence was handed down, saying, “I want to make this right and am willing to do whatever I have to to make it right.

“I want to apologize to the Ligos for all of the chaos and confusion that I've caused,” she said.

Her attorney, Victor Vouga, asked the judge for a probationary sentence to allow Early to continue to work and make restitution payments.

He said if a prison sentence was imposed, Early would lose her job and come out with a felony record, hindering her ability to continue to pay.

“The whole situation has just completely overwhelmed her,” he said. “She is so embarrassed and so distraught over this she hasn't even told her family she is here today.”

Assistant District Attorney Mark Lope asked for a one- to two-year prison sentence saying that Early's “betrayal and devastation” warranted jail time.

“I don't know if she did it just because she could, or to finance her daughter's education, but this is long-calculated bad behavior,” he said.