Candace Vail, 60, of Batavia, also was ordered Monday by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Charles Kubicki Jr. to repay the money stolen from the Goodman & Goodman firm from January 2001 to February 2006.

Vail, who pleaded guilty last month to a theft charge, used the money to fund her son’s landscaping business and to care for ailing parents, according to prosecutors and court records.

An attorney for the family owned Cincinnati law firm discovered several bounced checks during a trip to the bank in March 2006.

In a letter to the court in which a defendant often expresses remorse or apologizes, Vail wrote that the firm didn’t pay her enough and failed to issue her last paycheck after she was fired. She earned $26,500 a year.

Her letter also detailed all the tasks she said she performed for the firm over the years, including buying fans when the air conditioning did not work and filling parking meters for clients.