Heidi McCarty - who apparently spent the money a little at a time over eight years - claimed she is addicted to shopping.

But 1st District Judge Thomas Willmore countered: "Shopping is not an addiction. Deal with it on that level and don't blame it on something in your mind."

McCarty, 40, had pleaded guilty in November to second-degree felony theft by deception, admitting she stole more than $241,000 from Elden Dattage Towing and Auto Repair, of Logan.

Prior to issuing the sentence, Willmore heard McCarty's tearful apology to her former employers.

The judge ordered the former office worker to pay back the money. But defense attorney Shannon Demler said McCarty has no money in savings and none hidden anywhere.

"Where did the money go?" Demler said. "There's just no answer to that. I guess it went a little at a time over the years that she was employed there."

McCarty and Demler asked the judge to impose parole or jail with a release for work, saying her record is otherwise clean, her health is poor and her responsibility as a single parent to a teenage son is immense.

But prosecutor Barbara Lachmar said, "This is not a crime where we can look the other way. The Dattages probably will never see that money again."

An investigation of McCarty's bank account and financial records by Logan City Police revealed she began stealing within six weeks of her hire date in 1998.

She was confronted about the thefts in May.

In the first year, McCarty stole $4,000 and she continued to "dip into the till" until she was caught "red-handed," after stealing an increasingly larger sum each year from the family-owned business, Willmore said.

"Last year alone, you stole $52,000," the judge noted, "in addition to the $10 an hour you were paid."

abrunson@sltrib.com