Jailed former Circuit Clerk Shelly Ashley-Palmertree pleaded guilty Monday to stealing more than $100,000 meant as restitution for crime victims.

Palmertree, entered the plea before Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick. She made no other comments during the hearing.

Patrick sentenced her to 5 years to run concurrently with her previous sentence. She paid $20,000 Monday and will have to pay $1,250 a month until a balance of $67,164.64 is paid. She will also have to pay the district attorney’s investigative cost of $2,586.38.

The former circuit clerk diverted $103,736.75 meant for restitution of crime victims from an account under her care between Jan. 1, 2013, until supervisors removed her from office May 15, 2014, District Attorney Ricky Smith said.

“That money is specifically earmarked for the victims,” Smith said.

The District Attorney’s Office determined 72 separate victims had not been paid restitution.

Smith said people were bringing in cash payments and she was not reporting the cash, but covering it with previous checks in the ledger book.

Smith’s office handled the criminal investigation into the restitution payments. State law allows district attorneys to independently investigate cases, and Smith’s office has two full-time investigators.

After a defendant is sentenced, any restitution they owe to a victim is paid to the circuit clerk’s office and is supposed to be sent from the clerk’s office to the victim, Smith said.

About $13,000 of the restitution funds Palmertree is accused of stealing are in the process of being returned after a defendant sued Palmertree in circuit court.

The felony conviction is the second for the longtime circuit clerk.

In September, Special Judge Henry Lackey sentenced Palmertree to five years in prison for embezzling $12,000 from the civil and criminal accounts under her care. Those accounts contain fines and fees associated with civil and criminal cases.

Palmertree also faces ongoing civil litigation to determine whether she owes excessive salary and subcontractor payments to her father and predecessor in office, Larry Ashley.

Earlier this month Marcie Southerland, who is representing the county in the case, estimated a six-month time until a judgment is entered and agreed upon. That estimate, she said, is based on the case against former Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, sentenced last summer on felony convictions of embezzlement and fraud, though the two cases involved different sets of facts.