FAYETTEVILLE — A woman who stole $1.5 million from a Springdale trash compactor manufacturer and lost most of it gambling pleaded guilty Friday in Washington County Circuit Court.

Debra Louise Reynolds, 52, pleaded guilty to six felony theft charges and two counts of fraudulently using credit cards.

Judge William Storey sentenced Reynolds to 60 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction with 30 years suspended.

Reynolds also was ordered to pay $250 per month restitution after her release from prison. Insurance covered part of the loss, according to prosecutors.

Reynolds, an employee of J.V. Manufacturing, makers of Cram-A-Lot trash and recycling compactors, wrote checks to herself, set herself up as a vendor in the company’s bookkeeping system in order to receive other checks and used company credit cards, one of which belonged to another employee, according to David Bercaw, deputy prosecutor.

The company ordered an audit after they suspected money was missing, Bercaw said.

Reynolds ran the checks through her personal checking account, making it easy to follow the money trail, Bercaw said. There were times when Reynolds ran $60,000 to $70,000 in a month through her account, Bercaw said.

Most of the money Reynolds stole, she gambled with and lost, Bercaw said.

“She ended up mostly with nothing to show for it,” Bercaw said. “She was using it for all sorts of things, she was using her imagination.”

Reynolds took the money between February 2010 and May 2013.