Sue O'Neill, the former controller of a Marshall Township business who pilfered nearly $9 million over a decade, was sentenced Thursday to more than five years in federal prison.

O'Neill, who pleaded guilty in November to one count each of wire fraud and filing a false income tax return, was sentenced to 64 months in prison — to be followed by two years of supervised release — by Senior District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania via Zoom video conference.

Over the course of nearly a decade, O'Neill used her position as controller to pay herself an additional $2 million from her employer's, Marco Contractors, bank accounts, while taking another $6.7 million to jump-start Bulldog Contractors, a company she created with another individual.

Using that company, prosecutors charged, O'Neill, who lived in Economy, Beaver County, and that individual purchased a number of properties — including one at 124 McBride Hill Road in Penn Township — construction vehicles, pinball machines, and cars and trucks.

The 64-month imprisonment was in the middle of the guideline sentencing range of 57 to 71 months, which Ambrose said was more than justified based on the pattern of behavior and deceit involved.

“The kinds of actions that you engaged in had really no excuse other than greed and the desire to take from people who were nothing but kind and generous to you,” the judge said.

While O'Neill's attorney asked the judge for a variance downward from the guideline based on her cooperation with authorities — O'Neill voluntarily surrendered some property to be auctioned or given to Marco — Ambrose said that was not a mitigating factor.

In fact, the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee J. Karl, said many embezzlers who had cooperated with authorities in other cases had received sentences at the higher end of the guideline ranges because it's an intentional crime that takes planning and manipulation.

“This was a family-run business. They took her in. … She was a friend; she was a confidant. I think the son referred to her as a 'work mom.' She was a highly trusted and liked employee and friend. She took those relationships. She took that trust. She nurtured it, she cultivated it, and took it to steal from them,” Karl said. “To look these people in the face on a daily basis while stealing from them is just remarkable.”

O'Neill also owes restitution to both Marco and the Internal Revenue Service. While roughly $1.4 million of the embezzled funds have been, in some sense, returned, she will owe money on that debt until it is paid in full.