By David Eck
Enquirer contributor

HAMILTON - A Monroe woman who pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from her employer and creating false documents to help secure another job was sentenced to 40 months in prison Tuesday in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Marcia J. Snively, 42, pleaded guilty in December to two counts of attempted tampering with records, two counts of grand theft and one count of theft.

She also was ordered to serve about 20 additional months remaining on a probation violation.

More charges are pending in Warren County.

Snively, a former employee of the Warren County Foundation, was accused of depositing three foundation checks totaling at least $11,500 into her personal account at a Monroe bank, Butler County authorities said.

Wearing a blue prison uniform, Snively wept as she apologized to the foundation, the court and her family.

"I'm sorry I couldn't recognize the problem," she said. "Please don't just throw me away as a lost cause."

Her attorney told the judge that Snively has psychological disorders but has lined up treatment.

But Judge Matthew Crehan pointed out that Snively had stolen money in 1999 from the athletic department at the Lakota Freshman School, where she was a clerical worker. She was released from prison by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth in 2001 after serving just over two years of a four-year term.

"You're going to keep doing this until you decide to stop," Crehan said. "I don't know that you've decided to stop. I do find, Ms. Snively, that you are a menace to society."

Snively's friends and family would not talk after the sentencing, and she was led away in handcuffs.

She is scheduled to stand trial next month in Warren County on theft and forgery charges in connection with her employment at the foundation.

E-mail daveck@fuse.net