WASHINGTON (AP) — A former employee of the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue has been sentenced to spend two and a half years in prison after she pleaded guilty to stealing more than $400,000 in city money.

Mary Ayers-Zander of College Park, Md., was sentenced Monday in federal court in Washington. As part of her plea agreement she will also have to pay back the money she stole.

Prosecutors said that from 2007 to 2011, Ayers-Zander accessed taxpayer accounts and entered fraudulent changes that resulted in credits. The vast majority of the refunds the individuals were credited with went directly to Ayers-Zander’s bank accounts.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)