MARION COUNTY, Fla. – A Marion County woman accused of stealing over $600,000 from a local alternative school pleaded guilty to her charges on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
In a release, the DOJ announced that Danielle Liles, 41, pleaded guilty to eight counts of wire fraud.
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Liles was a business manager at Silver River Mentoring & Instruction, an alternative school for middle and high school students. She was arrested earlier this year after admitting she had been giving herself extra paychecks, deputies said.
Investigators discovered Liles had been stealing money from the school between January 2016 and April 2023, issuing more than 130 unauthorized paychecks to herself, the release shows.
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However, an upcoming audit prompted her to come clean about the fraud, the school’s director told detectives.
According to the sheriff’s office, Liles stated that she stole the money because “she became addicted to it.”
Now, Liles will be ordered to forfeit $616,793.43, which represents the proceeds from her offenses, the release says.
DOJ officials said that Liles faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of wire fraud — a total of 160 years and $2 million.
Liles’ sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.
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