CARIBOU – A former employee of the Limestone School Department will be sentenced Aug. 20 for misdemeanor theft of $31,000 from the school department while she was an employee there.

Beverly Edgecomb, 55, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge last month when she was arraigned in Aroostook County Superior Court. She was indicted by the Aroostook County grand jury in December.

Edgecomb originally was charged with felony theft by unauthorized taking in connection with missing money.

She is free on $2,500 unsecured bond until the sentencing.

According to Assistant District Attorney Todd Collins, Edgecomb has paid back $31,000 in restitution.

“The charge was reduced because she paid back the restitution upfront,” Collins said Friday. “The charge was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.

“We will be seeking a 10-day jail sentence,” he said.

The sentence could be less than what prosecutors will ask for.

She could have received a sentence of 10 years in jail under the original felony accusation.

Edgecomb worked as a secretary bookkeeper in the superintendent’s office. She had been working there for 21 years.

The Limestone Police Department began the investigation in the spring of 2003 after receiving a complaint from Superintendent Paul Beaulieu.

A year-end audit, at the end of the 2002-2003 school year, found discrepancies in several accounts.

While early reports estimated the theft to be as much as $60,000, Collins said they could prove $31,000 was missing. The missing money came from several accounts within the superintendent’s office.