The former executive director of a nonprofit organization that operates a transitional shelter for homeless people in Leeward Oahu pleaded no contest in state court Friday to stealing at least tens of thousands of dollars from the organization.

Sophina Placencia is charged with five counts of first-degree theft and one of second-degree theft. Prosecutors have not given a total for the amount of money Placencia allegedly stole. First-degree theft involves the loss of more than $20,000. Second-degree theft involves the loss of more than $300.

Placencia, 34, also asked Circuit Judge Dean Ochiai to defer her no-contest pleas for the opportunity to eventually have the charges dismissed if she follows conditions similar to probation. Ochiai will either grant Placencia’s request or sentence her in August. Placencia faces maximum prison terms of 10 years for each of the first-degree thefts and five years for the second-degree theft.

Two other former Waianae Community Outreach employees have also been charged with stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the organization.

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment in March 2015 charging Laura Pitolo with five counts of first-degree theft and one count of second-degree theft. Another state judge dismissed the charges last month because the indictment came after the three-year statute of limitations for the crimes had expired.

Prosecutors charged Jamye Windsor in September with one count of first-degree theft. Her trial is scheduled for later this year.

Placencia became executive director of Waianae Community Outreach in November 2007, succeeding her mother, Kanani Bulawan, who founded the organization, according to court documents. The board of directors fired Placencia on Jan. 4, 2014. Placencia had been a member of the board before she became executive director.

The organization, which is now Kealahou West Oahu, sued Placencia last year, claiming a loss of more than $200,000.

IN MAY 2010 Placencia called police to report that Pitolo, a case manager, had stolen money from the organization, court documents said. In August 2010 Placencia provided Honolulu police with information on 36 checks she said Pitolo had issued without authorization. She included the check numbers, dates and amounts totaling $72,900.

The checks were issued to Pitolo, her sister and her father and were drawn from the organization’s client trust account, its general account and its two payroll accounts, court documents said. Some were even written after Placencia had fired Pitolo but before the board removed Pitolo as an authorized signator for the accounts.

Police initiated one first-degree theft and two second-degree theft cases against Pitolo. The detective assigned to the cases included all of the information from the checks in his report and said he attempted but was unable to interview Pitolo, her father and sister, according to court documents. The detective did not forward the cases for prosecution, stating instead that they were pending further developments. As acting lieutenant the detective approved his own report.

The Honolulu Police Department said in a written statement that in general it can be difficult to locate and gain the cooperation of all of the parties involved. “Also, search warrants must be obtained for every account, and each check must be verified and determined to be unauthorized or forged,” the department said.

IN JULY 2013, after realizing that police had not charged Pitolo with any crimes and that the statute of limitations had either expired or was about to expire, Waianae Community Outreach sued Pitolo. In the lawsuit the organization said that Pitolo wrote $60,844 worth of unauthorized checks to Windsor, $141,190 to Pitolo’s father, $141,190 to herself and had made $390,795 in unauthorized cash withdrawals and purchases using Waianae Community Outreach’s debit card. The civil trial is scheduled for next month. Pitolo, 38, is representing herself in the legal proceeding.

In September 2013 the state Department of Human Services started an investigation of Waianae Community Outreach and later turned it over to the state attorney general. The organization continues to receive about $1 million a year from the state.

During the state investigation the attorney general’s office determined that Placencia and Windsor had also allegedly stolen from Waianae Community Outreach. The three-year statute of limitations for the charges against Placencia and Windsor had not expired because the clock did not start running until the state discovered their alleged crimes during the 2013 investigation, the state contended.

But the judge in the Pitolo case ruled that the state discovered Pitolo’s crimes in May 2010, when Placencia first reported them to police.

LAST YEAR Kealahou sued Windsor, 41, over the $60,844 worth of checks Pitolo allegedly wrote to her, and Placencia for the approximately $292,000 in unauthorized charges she put on the organization’s debit card.

Kealahou maintains that Placencia used the debit card to pay veterinary bills, purchase dog supplies and install an above-ground pool at her mother’s Waianae home. In addition, it was used to cover neighbor island and mainland travel for Placenia and a friend as well as to pay for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, jewelry and various recreation, food and entertainment purchases, according to the lawsuit.

The organization claims that a portion of the money Pitolo, Placencia and Windsor allegedly stole came from the trust accounts of its clients. That’s money the people in the shelter earn and save to pay their way into permanent housing. The lawyer for Kealahou says that “a very dedicated board member” used her own money to make up the loss so the clients’ housing wouldn’t be jeopardized. That board member has since died.

Placencia’s lawyer says her client is not working. Pitolo and Windsor have since found employment with other organizations that assist homeless people in Leeward Oahu.