(KAIR)--A longtime Atchison civic leader, whose years of leadership included time as City Commissioner and Mayor, is going to prison, sentenced in a federal courtroom last week in connection with the embezzlement of hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars from the Atchison-based credit union she once managed.

Along with the sentence of 5-years-3-months of federal incarceration, Rita Hartman is ordered to pay a total of more than $778,361.78 in restitution, named in court documents as the total loss incurred by Hartman's embezzlement from Muddy River Credit Union, which, during the time of Hartman's crimes, served employees of the then Bradken foundry.

According to court documents, the Court recommends placement of Hartman in a medical facility, due to medical conditions, with that "placement as close to Atchison, Kansas as possible to facilitate family visits."

Upon release, Hartman will be placed on 2-years of supervised probation.

On February 4, of this year, Hartman pleaded guilty to one count of a 29-Count indictment, charging false entries in federal credit institution records. For that plea, all other counts were dismissed.

The prosecution, in the sentencing document, says Hartman used "an array of false entries in
[the credit union's] records to hide her tracks," keeping the credit union's "general ledger manually, in hard copy, which made it easier for her to conceal her theft."

According to the prosecution, Hartman's crimes began "in at least 2007, and almost certainly earlier," saying the scheme continued until 2021, when a regulator-mandated audit, ordered in 2019, "immediately found discrepancies."

Hartman was indicted by a federal grand jury on August 23, 2023.

Her sentencing was held October 30.