A Winnipeg woman who plundered more than half a million dollars from her employer's coffers, sending a small family-owned business into a tailspin from which it never recovered, was sentenced this week to two years in prison.

Maria Pahor, 34, previously pleaded guilty to fraud over $5,000.

Pahor was an office assistant with the now-closed construction company G and G Interiors Ltd. Between 2010 and 2014 Pahor forged 177 cheques to herself totalling $522,000 and used the money to feed gambling and alcohol addictions, dine at fine restaurants and pay off short-term "payday" loans.

Pahor designated herself as a subcontractor in the business's accounting software, "so it appeared as though cheques were going out, but ... the books balanced because it looked like they were getting some sort of service for it," Crown attorney Peter Edgett told Judge Michel Chartier.

"By and large, the accused was squandering the money very, very quickly," Edgett said.

The fraud was finally uncovered when one of the company's owners conducted a year-end review and noticed a large cheque issued to the accused "that didn't make any sense," Edgett said.

"The fraud wasn't very sophisticated," Edgett said. "If there were different internal controls in place it would have been caught very quickly."

The fraud had a devastating impact on the three brothers who owned the company and who considered Pahor a trusted employee and friend, Edgett said.

"The brothers are getting to the stage they wanted to retire but this has been a huge financial blow to them," he said. "This has caused a lot of tension between the brothers as to why they didn't catch this earlier."

In victim impact statements submitted to court, two of the brothers said they can no longer afford to retire.

Since her arrest, Pahor has undergone intensive counselling for her gambling and alcohol addictions.

"The disease turned me into a person I am not," she told court. "I am extremely remorseful and ashamed. I want to be a better person."

dean.pritchard@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @deanatwpgsun