WHEELING — The former director of the Ohio County Schools Public Credit Union pleaded guilty Monday to embezzling more than $156,000 in order to pay personal debts.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James E. Seibert presided over the case Monday in federal court, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarod Douglas representing the government, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld’s office.

Gramlich, 65, of Valley Grove faces up to 30 years in prison for her crimes, which occurred between June 2013 and March.

Prosecutors will also seek an order that Gramlich make full restitution, Ihlenfeld has said.

The embezzlement first came to light in March after a routine reconciliation of accounts by an employee of the credit union revealed wrongdoing. It was confirmed by an auditor from the West Virginia Credit Union League, and Gramlich later resigned.

Before the FBI and West Virginia State Police ultimately got involved, the credit union hired William Wilmoth, a former federal prosecutor and an attorney with the law firm of Steptoe and Johnson, to investigate.

The credit union serves about 1,000 members comprised of current, former and retired employees of the school system and their families.

No customers were in jeopardy of losing their funds, because the credit union is insured by the National Credit Union Administration Board.

“Because of this insurance, and because of the way that the scheme was perpetrated, the funds of account holders are not, and never were, in jeopardy,” Ihlenfeld said previously.

In an unrelated case, Angel Rae Klein of Wheeling was sentenced in federal court Monday to spend 10 months in prison for distributing heroin that contained fentanyl.

U.S. District Judge Frederick P. Stamp Jr. presided at her sentencing.

Klein, 28, pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl after an investigation by the Ohio Valley Drug and Violent Crime Task Force found that between 2014 and early 2015, Klein possessed and sold heroin in Ohio County, according to a news release from Ihlenfeld’s office.

Ihlenfeld and Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Bernard prosecuted the case.

In a June news release unrelated to Klein’s case, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials said fentanyl is often being sold as heroin, although it’s 40-50 times stronger than street-level heroin and can kill.

“Fentanyl is being sold as heroin in virtually every corner of our country,” Acting Deputy DEA Administrator Jack Riley said in the release.

Sometimes fentanyl, a synthetic opiate painkiller, is being mixed with heroin to increase its potency, according to the DEA.

In March 2015, the DEA  issued a nationwide alert on fentanyl as a threat to health and public safety.