A devout New York Catholic referred to in media reports as an “evil little old lady” has admitted she swindled a million dollars from the Church and now faces up to four years in jail.

Anita Collins from the Bronxhas accepted a negotiated plea deal for embezzling from the Church according to reports.

Collins admitted to embezzling $1 million from the Archdiocese of New York, according to prosecutors.

She worked in the finance office of the New York Archdiocese from 2003 but was fired last December when the fraud was recovered.

CBS New York reports that Collins pleaded guilty to charges that she falsified records and wrote checks to herself.
 
State prosecutors said that Collins issued 450 checks of $2,500 or less, which was below the threshold for approval by supervisors.

She was not ordered to pay restitution as part of the plea deal because she had spent all the money on expensive clothing, furniture, and a high-priced doll collection.

Her plea deal came after months of negotiations with the ManhattanDistrict Attorney’s office.

It emerged during the investigation that Collins has a criminal past that the archdiocese didn’t know about.

She pleaded guilty in 1999 to grand larceny of $46,000 from a temporary employment agency.

The archdiocese admitted that Collins was hired before their criminal background check went into effect.