A 43-year-old Lanikai woman offered a tearful apology for stealing more than $50,000 from Lanikai Elementary School’s parent-teacher-student association, but then blamed her actions on an abusive husband who demanded she maintain the family’s affluent appearance.

Acting Circuit Judge Shirley Miki Kawamura sentenced Tonya Taylor to one year in jail Wednesday and ordered her to repay $50,574.41 to the Lanikai School ‘Ohana. She also gave Taylor five years of probation and ordered her to write a letter of apology.

Kawamura gave Taylor two weeks to get her affairs in order for her four children before starting her sentence on July 9.

Taylor said in court that her husband’s abuse prompted her to commit the crime, and denied taking the money out of greed. She described the theft, which spanned four years, as "desperate pleas from someone spiraling out of control."

Deputy Attorney General Chris Young said Taylor, who was serving as president of the parent organization, took the nonprofit’s money from 2007 to 2011, writing checks to her husband and herself and using the nonprofit’s debit card to make purchases and withdraw cash from ATMs.

Young said Taylor made about $10,000 in purchases at various businesses, including Hawaiian Airlines, Pacific Beach Hotel, Hilton Waikoloa Village, Macy’s, Best Buy and Ross Stores. At Sports Authority, she bought a home gym, an 11-foot trampoline, men’s shoes and athletic wear, he said.

Taylor also tallied about $12,000 in ATM withdrawals from various locations, including withdrawals in Utah and at the Wynn luxury hotel in Las Vegas.

Arguing for a one-year sentence, Young said jail time would show Taylor "her acts of greed are not acceptable."

Defense attorney Victor Bakke said Taylor was sexually and emotionally abused by her husband, who had expected her to maintain appearances in the wealthy neighborhood.

Bakke asked for a deferred acceptance of a no-contest plea, which would have wiped the conviction off Taylor’s record if she stayed out of trouble for five years.

He said Taylor, who holds a master’s degree in nursing, won’t be able to get a nursing license with a felony conviction, hindering her ability to repay the money.

Kawamura denied the motion, saying it would diminish the seriousness of her offense.

The judge said Taylor had "very little remorse for the magnitude of harm" she caused to the community.

Taylor, an alumna with children who attended the charter school at the time of the theft, pleaded no contest to first-degree theft and money laundering in December.

Marnie Ackerman, the outgoing president of Lanikai School ‘Ohana, said the association lost its nonprofit status because of Taylor’s theft.

Some of the lost money included a $25,000 grant for a shade structure, which was never built. Consequently, Ackerman said, some children still eat in the full sun. The stolen money also would have helped with school technology curriculum updates.

"There had been some turnover and change, and she was the one constant, and everyone knew her and trusted her," Ackerman said after the sentencing. "She could have been a pillar for the school."