COQUILLE — When Gwen Sherbondy stole money from a graduation fund for Coquille seniors, she didn’t just take $11,665.

As a parent helper for the fundraiser, she also betrayed the community’s trust to pay for her gambling addiction.

It’s for this reason, along with her history of similar thefts and bank robberies, that Coos County Judge Martin Stone sentenced the Coquille woman above sentencing guidelines to two years in prison and two years on parole.

Sherbondy pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated theft in Coos County and guilty to three federal counts of bank robbery in U.S. District Court last month.

“They put their trust in you and you broke that trust,” Stone told Sherbondy on Monday.

Presumptive sentencing would have given her about two years of probation and up to 20 days in jail, said Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier. She’ll also have to pay back the money she stole while on parole until it is paid off.

During the hearing, the DA explained how Sherbondy robbed Peter to pay Paul in an attempt to hide her gambling problem.

Although he did not know the scope of her gambling addiction, he said she used family funds, and then the Coquille High School Graduation Fund: Class of 2009, to pay for the habit.

“She was borrowing or stealing money from other sources to make up the difference,” Frasier said.

Frasier said he isn’t sure if the 46-year-old gambled online, at a casino, or another venue.

Sherbondy, in jeans and pink flip flops, didn’t make apologizes Monday for her actions. When asked if she wished to comment, she only shook her blond head and mumbled no.

Parents and teens in the courtroom were quietly elated. Whispers of “yes!” filled the courtroom when Stone handed down her sentence, and again as jail deputies handcuffed Sherbondy’s wrists behind her back.

Coquille High School graduates Josh Morris and Jake Breuer said they were satisfied. The two teens spent a lot of time raising money for the end-of-year party.

“Me and Jake would go over to her house daily and hand her hundreds of dollars,” Morris recalled. “She would say ‘Yay! You guys are doing a great job. You’re going to have an awesome trip.’”

“You don’t expect to do that without getting caught eventually,” Breuer added.

In January, parents began to suspect something was wrong. They asked for updates on the fundraiser. Sherbondy gave vague, defensive answers, Frasier said. Then, vendors who had provided items for the fundraiser complained to the Coquille School District they hadn’t been paid. Superintendent Diann Gillaspie wrote to Sherbondy, urging her to pay or she’d notify police. Within days, a woman matching Sherbondy’s description robbed a Wells Fargo Bank in Roseburg.

“What it appears she did is she robbed the bank in Roseburg in the morning and then that afternoon she’s in Coos Bay buying certified checks for the amount of money needed to pay off the vendors,” Frasier said.

A Coquille police officer recognized Sherbondy in images from the bank robbery. Federal agents arrested her in March.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sweet said Sherbondy pleaded guilty in the Feb. 24 Roseburg bank robbery, as well as robbing the Myrtle Point Washington Mutual Bank on Oct. 29,  2007, and Washington Federal Savings and Loan Association in Lincoln City on Sept. 2, 2008. She also admitted to a fourth robbery for restitution purposes, Sweet said, but no other details were available. She’ll be sentenced on those crimes in January.

Diann Dirksen, another parent who helped raise money for the high school graduation fund, said parents and teens felt betrayed when they learned of Sherbondy’s crime. The fund was intended to give graduating seniors a fun, alcohol- and drug-free class trip.

“Many of the kids worked very hard to help raise money,” Dirksen said. “Just to have it stolen from them, it was a huge slap in their face.”