A Warren County woman pleaded guilty to one count of theft Wednesday after she allegedly took thousands of dollars from the Clearcreek Twp. Soccer Association.

Michelle Petrey appeared before Judge Robert Peeler with her attorney, and in a small voice answered “yes sir” and “no sir” as the judge asked her questions about whether she understood her right to a grand jury determination and a trial.

Assistant Prosecutor John Arnold told Peeler that Petrey was the treasurer on the sports association and had sole access to the funds. He said between January 2008 and January 2012 Petrey allegedly embezzled the funds. When new officers took over the organization they found discrepancies in the books and alerted the Springboro Police Department.

Petrey allegedly paid off her personal bills with the cash.

“There were 101 unauthorized payments during that period of time totaling $64,800.56, including Beneficial Finance, American Express, Duke Energy, Miss Michelle Petrey, Kohls, Capital One, Discover and CitiBank,” he said. “These were not for the benefit of Clearcreek Soccer.”

He added that Petrey has since repaid just less than $12,000.

Peeler accepted her guilty plea on the fourth-degree felony charge and ordered a pre-sentence investigation. He warned Petrey she could go to prison for 18 months and face a $7,500 fine.

Petrey, with a gaggle of television news cameras chasing her down the courtroom hallway, declined comment.

Prosecutor David Fornshell said there are more cases under investigation where volunteers for organizations like this one have pulled off similar heists, because there are no checks and balances. He said Petrey essentially stole from children.

“This is something we’re seeing in our county more and more often,” he said. “… If you are a part of one of these organizations, you need to make sure that you have multiple people handling the cash and have checks and balances in place so you don’t find your organization on the other end of a story like this.”