AUBURN – A local woman who said she was the target of an Internet scam lost the money she stole from her employer because she sent it overseas in an effort to parlay it into millions of dollars, her attorney wrote in court papers.

Linda Roberts, 52, worked at Dunkin’ Donuts in Lewiston for about four years, as a manager about half that time. One of her duties was to make daily cash deposits at a bank.

She embezzled about $32,467 from those deposits.

Meanwhile, Roberts said someone contacted her by e-mail claiming to be a woman who had inherited 10 million British pounds from her late husband’s estate, but was having trouble collecting the sum because her late husband’s family was interfering. The e-mail writer also said she suffered from a debilitating illness.

The writer asked for money to help her collect the inheritance. In return, she promised to give Roberts 30 percent of the total, or 3 million pounds. Over time, several people contacted Roberts by e-mail, telephone and letters.

Roberts sent most of her savings, the money she stole from Dunkin’ Donuts and maximum cash advances from credit cards to the self-described heiress.

“At some point thereafter, and unfortunately not soon enough, she came to the grim realization she had been swindled and duped,” her lawyer, Jason Ranger, wrote in court papers.

After questioning by Lewiston police, Roberts admitted taking the cash deposits. She told authorities she would pay back all of the stolen money. A week later, she returned to the police department with a check for the full amount of the stolen deposits. She said she and her husband had borrowed money against their home. The check, drawn on her husband’s account, was given to the owner of the Dunkin’ Donuts.

It bounced.

She pleaded guilty to both charges handed up by an Androscoggin County grand jury: theft and negotiating a worthless instrument.

In his sentencing memo, Ranger noted Roberts’ lengthy rap sheet, including two felony theft by deception convictions and one conviction of theft by unauthorized taking. She also was convicted of three counts of negotiating a worthless instrument and forgery.

Each new charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Roberts’ sentencing is scheduled next month in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Roberts is seeking a six-year sentence on the theft charge, with five years suspended. She is asking a judge to impose a six-year sentence on the second charge, all suspended, plus probation for three years on both counts.