JACKSON, MI -- A woman involved in a scheme to defraud the Walmart in Blackman Township is going to prison.

"If this is extreme couponing, you've taken it to a whole new level," Jackson County Circuit Judge John McBain told Amanda Snuggs, 28.

McBain sentenced Snuggs on Wednesday, June 19, to a year and eight months to four years and 10 months in prison for a larceny charge.

In doing so, he exceeded the penalty recommended by state sentencing guidelines, which called for a jail sentence of zero to 11 months.

"I am going to throw up," a sobbing Snuggs said as she was placed in handcuffs. A deputy handed her a small trash container and she began to heave into it.

She and two others were accused of working together to use coupon fraud and improper price matching to bilk the Walmart on W. Michigan Avenue of what detectives earlier estimated was more than $100,000 in merchandise.

The Blackman-Leoni Township Department of Public Safety seized and cataloged hundreds of items worth about $30,000 and acquired during about a month-long period. These were then returned to Walmart.

Snuggs pleaded guilty May 3 to the larceny offense.

"I just want to apologize," she told the judge.

Snuggs said she has a baby at home and is pregnant with another child.

Her lawyer said she has a problem with dyslexia and had a difficult upbringing.

"She regrets it," attorney Phillip Berkemeier said. "She is trying to be a good mother, a good wife."

He argued time in jail was not necessary.

McBain suggested her activity could be considered organized crime. She repeatedly returned to the store, he said.

Snuggs told the judge she donated all the merchandise she acquired and did not visit Walmart as many times as a report indicated.

Those who perpetrated the fraud would go to the store three or four times a day, the Blackman-Leoni Township public safety department earlier reported. Walmart security staff watched hours and hours of surveillance tape and brought detectives possible suspects.

Working with Detective Robert Shrock, the suspects were identified, and police searched two homes. In one of the homes, officers found a make-shift store in the basement.

This was not her home, Snuggs told the judge.

Her co-defendant, Randall Woodard Jr., 31, pleaded guilty to the same larceny offense. Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson is to sentence him July 11.

A since-fired Walmart cashier helped the pair.

Anthony Jon Stevens, 25, pleaded guilty in August to a to a misdemeanor embezzlement crime. A district judge sentenced the 24-year-old in September to 364 days probation. He had to complete 30 days of community service with the sheriff's office work program.

Stevens was considered less culpable than the others. He was duped, his lawyer said at his sentencing.