PARIS – An accountant pleaded guilty Thursday in Oxford County Superior Court to embezzling more than $29,000 from Norway-Paris Community Television.

Ronald S. Snow, 58, of 292 Lake Road in Norway, was ordered to serve six months of a five-year sentence for theft. The sentence, which was stayed until 8 p.m. Saturday, will be served in the Oxford County Jail.

He declined comment after the plea.

The maximum prison sentence for Class B theft is 10 years.

“In comparison to other cases, we believe this is an appropriate recommendation,” Assistant District Attorney Joe O’Connor said.

Snow, a former Norway selectman with no prior criminal history, will also be required to serve three years’ probation, forfeit his securities license and other professional licenses, not accept employment where he will handle other people’s money, and disclose his financial records to his probation officer and the District Attorney’s Office, if requested.

Justice Roland A. Cole ordered Snow to repay the television station the $29,352.01 taken while he was its accountant, as well as $8,626.63 in legal and other costs the station incurred from the case.

Snow said he is on disability and restricted to earning $900 a month, which he will not be able to collect in jail.

Defense attorney Alan J. Perry said his client’s only other source of income has been preparing tax returns, and suggested that Snow pay $600 a month.

Cole agreed to the repayment schedule, though he said the monthly amount could be increased if the Norway man starts making more money. He said Snow may be able to continue preparing tax returns because that does not involve directly handling other people’s funds.

“I would hope you could do that, though I’m not sure there there’s going to be a great demand for your services after your conviction,” Cole said.

Perry said Snow is undergoing regular dialysis treatments for a kidney disease and will have to be transported by the Sheriff’s Office to the hospital during his time in jail.

Cole said he would not oppose putting Snow in a home-release monitoring program to save taxpayers money on the transportation, but that the defendant will have to serve at least one-third of his sentence before he becomes eligible.

Detective Gary Hill of the Norway Police Department said in a supplemental report filed with the District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday that he observed Snow playing a round of golf on two separate occasions. Hill filed photos of the activity in the report, since he had been told that Snow was in poor health.

According to the report, Snow has failed to make payments on three separate promissory notes to individuals for whom he was acting as an accountant.

Hill said he issued Snow a summons on a separate charge of theft while he was at the court. The summons charges him with failing to remit a $927.68 check from Pepsi Bottling Group that was deposited into his personal account. Hill said Snow will answer to the charge on Nov. 15 at the Paris District Court.

Snow came under investigation after Steve Galvin, station manager of Norway-Paris Community Television, reported in February that his current accountant had found discrepancies in the station’s budget.

Snow, an employee of Three Sixty Management Services in Paris, served as the station’s accountant for two years, ending in December 2006 when Galvin discontinued his services. An audit by Runyon Kersteen Ouellette of South Portland concluded that $29,352.01 was missing from the station’s account.

“It’s really brought the station to a halt,” Galvin said in court Thursday.

Snow served as a selectman for Norway from 1993 to 1999, and unsuccessfully ran for the position in 2003.