By Brad Segall

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — The former bookkeeper at a Bucks County car dealership is headed to state prison for stealing nearly three-quarters of a million dollars from her employer over thirteen years.

Nancy Cresse spent more than thirty years working for Keystone Volvo in Doylestown, but since 1999 she’s been systematically stealing from the dealership.

She pleaded guilty in January to theft and related charges, and today was sentenced to 16 to 36 months behind bars.

Bucks County prosecutor Marc Furber calls the sentence appropriate and hopes it sends a clear message to others.

“She was essentially living on the money,” he tells KYW Newsradio.  “She wasn’t living the high life, but she was supporting her and her children’s lifestyle — she was paying her mortgage, she was paying for their education.”

A forensic auditor discovered that the 52-year-old Chester County woman was writing checks to herself and her husband, disguising them as business expenses for the dealership.

She’s also been ordered to sell her home to help raise the money she needs to pay back her former employers.