A bookkeeper for the Lexington law firm of Strother & Handel was sentenced to 51 months in prison on Friday for stealing nearly $2 million from the company using a wire fraud scheme.

Elizabeth Lee McGlothin, 51, pleaded guilty in March, admitting that from 2005 to 2008, she used the firm's escrow bank account to write about 103 unauthorized checks to herself, totaling $1.9 million, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Kerry B. Harvey's office.

The fraud investigation was conducted by the Secret Service and sentencing was made in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Jennifer Coffman.

Federal law requires that McGlothin serve 85 percent of her prison sentence, and she must be on probation for three years following release.