AUBURN — A Mechanic Falls woman admitted to two felony theft charges Tuesday morning, stemming from her job at John F. Murphy group homes.

Terri Arsenault, 41, stole money from a client, as well as the nonprofit group that serves people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, a prosecutor said. She diverted money to herself from the organization by misusing a commercial credit card, an assistant attorney general said in Androscoggin County Superior Court. Arsenault also took money from a trust account of a resident at one of the three homes in Mechanic Falls, where she served as administrator.

The thefts date back to 2007 and 2008.

She agreed to a four-year plea on two charges of theft by deception, with all of the jail time suspended except for a cap of nine months. That means she can argue for serving fewer days in jail than nine months at the time of sentencing, but won’t have to serve more than that number of months behind bars. She also agreed to spend two years on probation following her time in jail.

On one of the theft charges, a Class B felony, she could have faced up to 10 years in prison; on the other, a Class C felony, up to five years in prison.

She also agreed to pay more than $15,000 in restitution.

Assistant Attorney General Michael Miller told a judge Tuesday that, were the case to go to trial, she would present evidence and witnesses which would show that staff at John F. Murphy group homes investigated Arseneault’s spending habits from April 2007 to November 2008, after receiving complaints from some of Arsenault’s workers.

They found that at the end of August in 2008, Arsenault and another worker took a male resident, identified only as K.W., on a trip to Boston. The man was a resident with intellectual disabilities at the North Main Street home in Mechanic Falls.

A ward of the state, K.W. also had a trust fund from an auto accident. The money in the trust account was supposed to be used for his personal pleasure.

Officials at the home approved the Boston trip and gave Arsenault $1,500 in cash from the resident’s trust, as well as a company credit card.

Arsenault and the other worker took their minor children with them on the trip to Boston, expensing two rooms at the Boston Hilton, Miller told the judge. One of the rooms was used by K.W. and one of the workers from the home. The three children and the other worker stayed in the other room.

That violated company policy and the approved plan for the resident for several reasons, including the fact that four workers were supposed to have gone on the overnight trip, Miller said.

When confronted about the trip, Arsenault denied using trust fund money and the company credit card for personal expenses. She claimed her husband, Michael, had brought their children to Boston separately and had stayed with them overnight separately.

She presented a typed letter, signed and dated, purported to be from her husband. She later admitted to police detectives that she wrote the letter and forged her husband’s signature.

Review of receipts and credit card statements revealed that $596.46 of K.W.’s trust fund money was spent by Arsenault on inappropriate personal expenses, which she had submitted for reimbursement as valid expenses.

Investigators broadened their probe and found that credit card purchases over a year-and-a-half-long period included personal items including gas, groceries and other household goods. Many of the purchases were made at night, on weekends or during vacations when she wasn’t working, Miller said.

Some of the items clearly wouldn’t have been for the residents, including furniture and window air conditioning units. The residents’ rooms have central air conditioning.

She used the company’s credit card for more than 250 personal transactions, totaling more than $15,000, Miller said.

Arsenault also submitted invoices from her husband’s company, J&M Property Maintenance, for work that was never done at the three company homes where she served as administrator, Miller said. Those invoices included painting, step removal, door replacement and building a shed roof. The invoices totaled nearly $4,000, Miller said.

Michael Arsenault, 43, was charged with one count of Class C felony theft, punishable by up to five years in prison. His case is scheduled for an April trial, Miller said.

Walter McKee, Arsenault’s attorney, said he and his client agreed a jury could have found her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt given the prosecutor’s evidence, though he could dispute some of the minor facts in the case.

Arsenault had served as Budget Subcommittee chairwoman on the RSU 16 School Committee.

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