EAST ST. LOUIS • Flora Buckingham, 70, of Granite City, was sentenced Tuesday to more than two years in in prison for embezzling more than $900,000 from her employer, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Buckingham wrote checks to pay her credit card bills from May 2004 to November 2010, and hid the check entries, prosecutors said.

In addition to the 28-month prison sentence, Buckingham was ordered to repay $921,041 to her employer, Ahmad and Rana Pediatrics Ltd. of Granite City. Buckingham was office manager there.

She pleaded guilty in federal court here Sept. 21 to a mail fraud charge.