Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A former employee of the Native American Samoa Advisory Council (NASAC) pled guilty to embezzlement last Friday, Jan. 11th, during a Change of Plea hearing in High Court.

Dorothy Elia will be sentenced Feb.  22nd and from now until then, Chief Justice Michael Kruse has remanded her to the custody of the government.

Elia, 37, was initially charged with embezzlement, stealing, criminal fraud, and forgery. But in a plea agreement with the government — which was accepted by the High Court last Friday — Elia pled guilty to embezzlement, a class D felony punishable by up to 7 years imprisonment and a fine of not more than $5,000 or two times the amount gained from the commission of the crime, but not more than $20,000.

The three remaining charges were dismissed.

With her guilty plea, Elia admits that between January and October 2016, while employed by NASAC, she had access to the organization's ANZ bank account and funds, and she ordered unauthorized checks. She admitted in court that she diverted funds from her employer so they were paid directly to her.

Kruse wanted to know how much money was involved. When defense attorney Public Defender Michael White tried to answer, Kruse stopped him and said he wanted to hear the answer directly from his client.

According to Elia, the money she took was "about $36,000".