A former Carbon County clerk of courts pleaded guilty Monday morning to theft charges related to using bail money and fingerprint/booking fees from the county.

William C. McGinley, 61, of Jim Thorpe, pleaded guilty to theft by failure to make required deposition of funds, a felony; tampering with evidence and obstruction of administration of the law.

Senior Judge John L. Braxton, specially presiding, accepted the pleas.

He will be sentenced on those charges on Nov. 15, after a presentence investigation is conducted.

The charges carry a minimum sentence of 3 to 12 months.

McGinley was charged in December with theft by unlawful taking-movable property, receiving stolen property, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, tampering with public records or information, obstruction of the administration of law or other government function, and restricted activities-conflict of interest.

He was accused of stealing $44,000 from his office. He was charged by the Attorney General’s office following an audit of accounts of the office while he was in charge. He has repaid the money and is being charged an additional $7,500 to cover the county’s cost for the insurance company to conduct an audit.

Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Elo was in court today to read the charges.

See more details in Tuesday’s edition.