NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A former bookkeeper has been sentenced to 2½ years for embezzling almost $470,000 from her Norfolk employer.

The Virginian-Pilot reports (http://bit.ly/1NzOpSo ) that court documents say 37-year-old Katherine Albert-McNaughton also stole $520 that her co-workers tried to donate to children’s charities. U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen said that “takes it even down to a deeper level.”

Albert-McNaughton worked for HBA Architecture & Interior Design. Court documents say that between October 2011 and June 2104, she forged a supervisor’s signature on 83 checks and used the money for vehicles, air fare and entertainment. Meanwhile, the company laid off six employees, froze salaries, suspended bonuses and stopped matching retirement contributions.

At Friday’s hearing, defense attorney Kirsten Kmet blamed her client’s actions in part on an abusive marriage that ended in January 2014.

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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com