(AP) -- A former Oconee County Sheriff's office manager has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for embezzling taxpayer money and must repay the $505,500.

The Independent-Mail of Anderson reports that 44-year-old Kathleen Taylor pleaded guilty Thursday. A judge also ordered Taylor to serve five years of probation.

Sheriff James Singleton asked state police to investigate after noticing large, undocumented withdrawals from the drug forfeiture account.

Prosecutors say Taylor started taking money in 2007 to pay her mortgage and utility bills, then took increasingly more to buy things for family and friends, and to pay for hotel rooms. She was charged in November 2009.

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