Friday morning, former Harrisonburg City Treasurer Rebecca Neal pleaded guilty to one felony count of misappropriation of almost $92,000 worth of public funds between February 26, 2004 and November 21, 2007.

She was sentenced to ten years in the state penitentiary, but that sentence was suspended and so she now stands to serve two years supervised probation.

Since Neal pleaded guilty to this felony, she has to forfeit her position as city treasurer. Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst says now she hopes the integrity of the city treasurer's office can be restored.

"I'll be honest I care nothing about embarrassment. I care about convictions," says Garst. "I care about assuring that the office can move on and people that have abused the office are gone. And 24.22.31 is very clear. Upon this conviction, it's forfeited."

Neal's attorney declined to comment on camera but says her decision to plead guilty was in her best interest as well as the interest of the community she served.

In a statement, Attorney David O'Donnell says, "Despite the distraction of the highly publicized petition seeking her removal from office, which was widely covered in the press, the petition had no bearing on her decision."

"And I think, quite frankly, the petition helped to show that there were enough people behind the Commonwealth, and the law enforcement, and the city police department and the attorney general's office to put some teeth into the prosecution," says Garst.

Garst says that nearly 200 times, deposit slips that were sealed were altered with white out, cash was taken from multiple departments and then repaid months later. She says it's law enforcement's duty to guard those public funds and make sure they are not used to fund personal lifestyles.

"So I think embarrassment should be owned by Ms. Neal and the shame is upon her and it's a pity for the people that entrusted her and elected her," says Garst.

Neal also has to pay $130 restitution to the city of Harrisonburg and $800 restitution to the Harrisonburg Police Department. In the plea agreement, the Commonwealth dropped 19 other charges, and Garst says no other charges will be filed.