BELFAST — A former Troy town clerk was ordered to serve 90 days of a three-year sentence Thursday in Waldo County Superior Court for embezzling $18,154.

Kathleen Mattingly, 57, pleaded guilty to theft by unauthorized taking earlier this month and paid back all of the money owed to the town.

Deputy District Attorney Eric Walker said when creating the sentence, the state considered similar cases of embezzlement and Mattingly’s cooperation with the investigation.

“She cooperated with police, confessed to them rather quickly and in a few months she paid off all the restitution, which is very rare,” he said.

Walker said a maximum sentence for the class B crime was 10 years in prison, which he said is “clearly not appropriate in this case.”

Mattingly is scheduled to report to the Waldo County jail on Jan. 9. Walker said she was granted time between the start of her sentence so jail officials could accommodate her medical needs, which include constant access to an oxygen tank.

After her sentence she will also serve a year of probation, he said, and the sentencing terms were agreed upon by Mattingly’s attorney, Nathan Bell, who did not return requests for comment Thursday.

Mattingly was arrested in June after she confessed to a detective that she had been writing checks to herself from the town and keeping some of the money when residents paid the town in cash.

The thefts first were reported to the sheriff’s office in May after selectmen found discrepancies in the records during an internal audit and discovered the missing money. The town has about 1,000 residents.

Sharon Moody, Troy’s treasurer and secretary, said earlier this month that if the money wasn’t returned, it would have had a sizable effect on the small town’s $526,000 budget. She said the town was pleased Mattingly pleaded guilty but also thought she deserved some form of punishment.

Fifty-seven cases of embezzlement were reported in Maine in 2012, one case more reported than in 2011, according to the Maine Unified Crime Report.

Kaitlin Schroeder — 861-9252kschroeder@centralmaine.com