A Topsham woman who worked at a Brunswick credit union pleaded guilty Friday to embezzling more than $500,000.

Marsha Richard, 42, worked at Atlantic Regional Federal Credit Union for six years, from November 2004 to October 2010, where she engaged in a scheme to steal credit union money, U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II said in a written release.

Richard manipulated accounting entries for checks that credit union members had deposited but had been returned for insufficient funds.

Instead of crediting the proper internal account, Richard sent the credit to her own account or to those of family members or friends, the release said.

She later accessed the money she had diverted for her own use.

When confronted by credit union officials in 2010 about the accounts, Richard reportedly confessed to the theft, according to The Forecaster newspaper.

Richard faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. She is expected to reappear in U.S. District Court in Portland after a presentencing investigation has been completed by the U.S. Probation Office.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Brunswick Police Department teamed up on the investigation that led to the conviction.