ELLSWORTH (AP) – A bookkeeper’s prison term for embezzling more than $400,000 from two Maine businesses will depend on the amount of restitution she can pay to her victims, a judge has ruled.

Cecelia White, 41, of Exeter pleaded guilty Thursday in Hancock County Superior Court to theft charges.

White was accused of taking $107,000 from the now-closed Asian Palace restaurant in Bangor in 2001 and $308,000 from David and Alice Jean Warren, owners of a logging company in Surry, between 2002 and 2004.

District Attorney Michael Povich said White wrote unauthorized checks from her employers’ accounts, most of them made out to herself and her businesses.

The transfers came to light after David Warren’s payroll checks started to bounce.

“Dave and Alice Jean aren’t the first people who have had this happen to them,” Povich said. “They trusted Cecelia White … because they know no other way but to trust people. This is a serial embezzler.”

Under a plea agreement presented by prosecutors, White’s sentence will be continued for at least one year as she attempts to pay restitution to the victims.

If she pays back $25,000, she would serve up to five years of a nine-year sentence. She would serve six years if she fails to raise that amount and a maximum of four years if she pays $50,000. The restitution is to be split proportionately between the two businesses.

White’s attorney, Joseph Baldacci, said his client is working with family members and friends to raise money for restitution. He couldn’t say Thursday whether she has a job.

“She’s feeling OK about (the sentence),” Baldacci said. “I think she realizes it’s a good sentence. She realizes that the state made some concessions in the plea agreement.”

David Warren said after the hearing that he and his wife have been devastated by White’s actions and were forced to borrow money and sell items to make ends meet. He said the couple lost their medical insurance coverage and incurred tens of thousands of dollars in legal, accounting and banking fees.

“I’m really not interested in her going to jail,” he said. “What we are interested in is getting as much money back as we can.”