MAYS LANDING, NJ (CBS) – The Chief Financial Officer of a South Jersey town has pleaded guilty to official misconduct for advancing himself thousands of dollars.

Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain made the announcement on Friday that Ted Freedman, 51, a 27-year employee of the City of Pleasantville, was charged with second-degree official misconduct and third-degree theft by deception.

An investigation began when officials discovered that employee payroll wouldn’t reconcile for January 2012.

It revealed that payroll sheets that showed that Freedman had received multiple unauthorized manually issued checks and had submitted inaccurate timesheets for hours he had not worked to the City’s paycheck provider. He was then issued a manual check, outside of his normal payroll check. It appears that Freedman advanced himself several manual checks between March 2011 and February 2012, totaling over $27,000.

Further investigation showed that Freedman had made attempts to pay back the City by making adjustments to his regular paychecks, but he has yet to pay back more than $9,500 to the city.

After charges were filed, Freedman turned himself into the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, where he was processed and released. He entered a plea agreement pleading guilty to an accusation of second degree official misconduct.