Janet Mary Clifford.

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Janet Clifford, an office manager for Panorama Custom Home Builders on Marco Island, liked Disney collectibles. So the Naples woman bought thousands of them — about $200,000 or $300,000 worth on eBay.

But the Naples woman purchased them even though she didn’t have the cash: She embezzled the money from her boss, Roy Lansdown, the company’s president, asking him to sign checks made out to pay suppliers. Then she deposited them into her own bank account.

At least one was used to pay her husband’s Naples construction firm, Caliber Construction.

On Monday, Clifford, who is accused of stealing $196,000 between Aug. 1 and May 2, pleaded no contest to scheme to defraud $50,000 or more, a first-degree felony, and obtaining drugs by fraud, a third-degree felony.

Collier Circuit Judge Fred Hardt found her guilty of both.

Defense attorney Janeice Martin told the judge the money was used for expenses for Kevin Clifford’s business and to keep the couple living in the manner they were accustomed to. Martin also disputed that the collectibles were worth so much.

She said that Gail Maxwell, Clifford’s mother-in-law, will oversee the inventory of collectibles, taking photos of each item and present that to the court within 30 days.

Martin told the judge that Maxwell, who has custody of Clifford’s two children, has secured the items in a locked storage unit that only she and Clifford’s father have access to. The items then will be turned over to Lansdown’s attorney, Fred Cramer of Marco Island.

Martin asked that Clifford, of 3539 Santiago Way, be released until sentencing. Assistant State Attorney Jim Molenaar didn’t object and Hardt set Nov. 10 for a status conference.

A Marco Island Police report shows Clifford wrote 10 checks ranging from about $16,000 to $29,000 to various companies, including at least one, for $16,427.25, to her husband’s company. Not all checks were detailed in the report.

County records show the IRS filed a tax lien against the Cliffords last year, showing they owe $81,897.95 for tax years 2003 through 2005. Two foreclosure judgments also were filed against them last year.

When Lansdown heard that several checks written to pay subcontractors were endorsed by Clifford, he called his attorney and they met with Clifford. She admitted depositing five checks in her account. An investigation turned up more.

She admitted to Marco Police Detective Linda Guerrero that she wrote them out to suppliers, handed them to Lansdown for his signature, then deposited them into her account. She was arrested on May 20 and posted $35,000 bond the next day.

A month earlier, she’d been arrested on the drug fraud charge, accused of forging a doctor’s name on a prescription for Vicodin, a painkiller.

Sheriff’s reports say she brought the prescription to Sunshine Pharmacy on April 11 and a pharmacy tech thought it appeared suspicious, based on the doctor’s signature, and because she didn’t recognize Clifford as his patient.

The employee called Dr. James Halikas’ office and learned it was forged, and while Clifford waited at the counter, the doctor’s office called the Sheriff’s Office, which sent a deputy to arrest Clifford.

She admitted she’d been addicted to the painkiller two years ago and had recovered, but now wanted a prescription filled for herself.

She was arrested and freed on $2,500 bond. But due to her arrest on the embezzlement charges, the state filed a motion to revoke the $2,500 bond and she was jailed again on June 11. She faces up to 30 years on the embezzlement charge and five for the drug fraud.

Cramer, Lansdown’s attorney, declined comment.