A 57-year-old Hamburg woman was sentenced to 4-8 years in prison for stealing more than $250,000 from her employer, according to Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Flaherty, Jr.

Joan Joyce had pleaded guilty in February to one count of second-degree grand larceny and five counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.

Joyce worked as the bookkeeper for ECC Electrical Construction Corporation, a Cheektowaga-area business from 2006 through April, 2015. While the bookkeeper, she wrote a series of checks totaling $263,135.37 to pay for her personal expenses, without permission of ECC Electrical Construction Corporation’s owner.

Joyce wrote the checks to cover her credit card bills which she had used to pay personal expenses — including a gambling habit. In addition, she wrote checks to cover a loan for computer purchases, a down payment on a 2014 Toyota RAV4 and her mother’s funeral in 2014. She did not declare any of these stolen funds on her New York State income tax return.

As part of her sentencing, Joyce agreed to pay back the $263,135. 37 she stole as well as $15,150 she owes the state in back taxes.

Joyce has a prior felony conviction from 2008 of Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree for a theft from her previous employer, Lakeview Metals.