Former Schuylkill County Conservation District employee Virginia Kunigonis, 54, of Pottsville, will plead guilty in federal court to embezzling $449,064 from the organization.

Kunigonis was charged Thursday with one count of theft from programs receiving federal money, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Harrisburg.Prosecutors say Kunigonis worked for the Conservation District from 2007 to 2014. During that time, she's accused of forging 437 conservation district checks totaling $410,435 and of using a district credit card to pay $41,751 in personal expenses.As part of her plea agreement, prosecutors say Kunigonis has agreed to make restitution and to forfeit all of her interests in her home and her county retirement account to the government.No date has been set for Kunigonis to enter her plea.Kunigonis admitted to state Trooper Bernard J. Walasavage of the Schuylkill Haven barracks that she had taken the money to take trips to Disney, and for timeshare trips for herself and friends.The agency is funded by state and federal grant money, and by the county.Kunigonis told police she used money from the grant accounts and not money from the county because she would have been more easily caught.County Controller Christy D. Joy in June 2014 became aware of problems after examining the agency's 2012 financial records, prompting state police at Schuylkill Haven to launch an investigation.The embezzlement surfaced as district employees were looking for information for an audit, according to Joy. They discovered two manila envelopes under Kunigonis' desk. The envelopes contained information that revealed what Kunigonis was doing.Here's how police say it happened:Conservation District Manager Elizabeth Hinkel was in charge of making payments to various companies for conservation work in the county.Beginning in 2010, Kunigonis began to generate various checks to pay companies. She would generate the checks in her name, or made several to Card Member Services, a credit card held by her husband. She would sign Hinkel's name or agency Chairman Stanley Fidler's, and then cash the checks from the Conservation District bank account.She would then make a duplicate check to pay the company, but that money would be deducted from the county account held by the agency. Kunigonis would then receive the canceled checks written to herself, and create a Word document listing a company as being paid. She would then paste this over the original check made payable to herself or Card Member Services, to make it appear that the checks were proper and documented without her name being attached.A check of the district account showed the checks had actually been written to Kunigonis.It was not initially clear how much money may have been taken due to what Joy termed irregularities in the agency's accounting practices. According to the audit, the problems stemmed from not having the district manager's required signed approvals on payments, which may indicate misappropriation of funds; an inability to completely segregate all duties, due to too few employees; and failure to record transactions in a timely manner.At the time, Hinkel said her agency is correcting the shortcomings by upgrading its record keeping practices and making sure any spending is approved in writing. But it cannot afford to hire more staff in order to segregate duties.In a prepared statement in June, Hinkel said she and a staff member were doing a routine review of files on May 30 when the staff member "found what appeared to be file folders documenting fraudulent activity, which was first flagged when the staff person noticed what appeared to be fraudulent signatures. This information, as well as bank statements and canceled checks, were reviewed by the district manager, who contacted the county administrator."Hinkel met with county officials on June 2, and state police were called in that day.The case was investigated by the Scranton Office of the FBI, and the Pennsylvania State Police and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Douglas Daniel. The Associated Press also contributed to the story.