COEUR d'ALENE - Sally Hansen, former clerk of Athol, appeared in federal court Wednesday to plead guilty to 15 counts of wire fraud.

According to her plea agreement, Hansen could face anywhere between 33 to 41 months in prison without parole and will be required to pay restitution for the $417,879 she embezzled from the city.

She will also pay the court a $1,500 special assessment fee before her sentencing on May 5 at 1:30 p.m. in Coeur d'Alene.

Hansen, 39, will not be charged by Kootenai County as a result of her plea.

U.S. Magistrate Candy Dale said each count that Hansen faced was punishable by as long as 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release and a special assessment of $100 per count.

Judge Lynn Winmill, who is not bound by the plea agreement, may still impose a fine because the plea agreement did not address that particular sentencing factor.

The federal court system uses a standard set of sentencing guidelines that take into account both the seriousness of the offense and the offender's criminal history.

The sentencing guidelines provide 43 levels of offense seriousness - the more serious the crime, the higher the offense level.

In Hansen's case the agreement called for a minimum offense level of 16, and other factors that can bring that level somewhere near 20, which gives the judge a range of 33 to 41 months of jail time. One of those factors included abuse of public trust.

Traci Whelan, assistant U.S. attorney, read the allegations into the record, detailing the offenses with which Hansen was charged.

Shortly after Hansen was hired, Whelan said, Hansen began writing checks to herself and her husband.

"The defendant made fraudulent wire transfers of money from the LGIP (local government investment pool) funds from the accounts at Key Bank and Wells Fargo to the city of Athol bank account at Wells Fargo," Whelan testified. "The defendant made fraudulent deposits from the city of Athol bank account at Wells Fargo into her own bank account with Wells Fargo.

"From 2009 to 2014, Hansen continued this scheme and fraudulently took $417,879 from the city of Athol."

Whelan told the court that there were three elements of crime committed. Hansen devised a scheme to defraud or to obtain money by materially false or fraudulent pretenses. She acted with specific intent to defraud, and in the course of carrying out her scheme, Hansen transmitted the money by means of wire and engaged in interstate commerce.

Dale asked Hansen if she agreed with the facts of the case.

"Yes, your honor," Hansen responded.

The judge then asked if Hansen disagreed with anything that Whelan presented.

"No, your honor," Hansen replied.

Then Dale asked Hansen to describe what she did in her own words.

"I took money and put it in my account," she said.

Hansen also agreed that she committed the three elements of crime that Whelan alleged.

"At this time, Ms. Hansen, what is your plea for each of the counts charged in the information - counts 1 through 15 - guilty, or not guilty?" Dale asked.

"Guilty, your honor," Hansen replied.

The judge then set a sentencing date, and released Hansen on her own recognizance.

She will not be allowed to be in a position of authority to manage money while she is awaiting sentencing and her travel is confined to the states of Idaho, Utah, Oregon and eastern Washington.

Hansen now lives in southern Idaho.

After the arraignment, Whelan praised the investigators from Kootenai County and the U.S. Secret Service.

"It is nice when we can all work together on cases like these," she said.