Doc’s Former Bookkeeper Gets 2 To 6 Years For Stealing $500K

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A bookkeeper who stole a half-million dollars from the doctor's office where she worked has been sentenced to two to six years in prison.

Prosecutors say 52-year-old Justine Smith, of Buffalo, blamed her actions on a shopping addiction. She was sentenced Monday in state Supreme Court in Buffalo, where she pleaded guilty in February to grand larceny and falsifying business records.

Investigators say the theft occurred between 2011 and 2016 while Smith was a bookkeeper at an Amherst plastic surgeon's office.

The Erie County District Attorney's office says Smith has paid back about $61,000 and has been ordered to make restitution for the remaining amount.