02/13/19- A former Newport News bookkeeper was sentenced in federal district court Wednesday to over five years in prison for embezzling money from a doctor’s office and fraudulently obtaining a loan in her father’s name.

Amanda Viglietta, 32, pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud and aggravated identity theft on Oct. 1 as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

According to a statement of facts Viglietta signed as part of the deal, Viglietta started working as a bookkeeper for Advanced ENT & Allergy in Newport News in April 2016.

Viglietta forged the owner’s signature on checks that she issued to herself, her boyfriend and others to whom she owed money, prosecutors said. She made fraudulent entries in financial records, created at least one fake invoice and improperly used credit and debit cards associated with Advanced ENT.

She embezzled about $180,000 from the office, according to prosecutors. The practice fired her on Dec. 7, 2016.

About a week later, Viglietta registered a new company, “Mumbling Mikes, LLC,” with the state, prosecutors said. On Feb. 16, 2017, she filed for a U.S. Small Business Administration Loan for the business, listing her father as a co-owner.

She forged her father’s signatures and sent a fake Virginia driver’s license with her father’s info to a bank, according to court documents.

The bank wired her about $148,400, which prosecutors said she spent on cashier’s checks and personal expenditures.

Viglietta was indicted on May 14, 2018. But on June 8, prosecutors asked the court to have her arrested after a loaded gun was found in her car, violating her pretrial release.

On Jan. 10, 2019, prosecutors again asked for her to be arrested. They said she had used her sister’s and disabled brother’s identities to open bank accounts and obtain a credit card.

Her sister sent a letter in Viglietta’s support to the court on Feb. 7, calling her father a “”narcissistic jack***” and Viglietta “honest, when it matters.”

According to jail records, Viglietta was booked into the Western Tidewater Regional Jail on Jan. 14. She also faces forgery charges in Newport News District Court stemming from a June 2018 arrest.