A 40-year-old Waseca woman who embezzled more than $100,000 from a Northwood, Iowa, business was sentenced this week in federal court to more than five years in prison.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade on Wednesday sentenced Barbara Ann Paulson, formerly Krauth, to 70 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The sentencing took place in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

According to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office, Paulson was also ordered to make restitution for just under $157,000.

Paulson pleaded guilty in January to one count of making and passing a counterfeit check with the intent to deceive, one count of using a fraudulently obtained credit card and one count of aggravated identity theft.

In the agreement, Paulson admitted that between January of 2005 and October of 2006 she defrauded her employer by obtaining authorized signatures on business checks and then altering the checks to be used for her own purposes.

“She admitted receiving over $100,000 in benefits or cash through the use of the counterfeit checks,” the release states.

She also admitted to using her employer’s name and Social Security number to obtain a credit card and then making more than $40,000 in charges on the card. She also admitted to paying more than $30,000 on the card balance by making unauthorized transfers from her employers bank accounts.

Paulson was released on a previously set bond and was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a later date not yet determined.