Patricia Cascione pleaded no contest to one count of embezzlement on December 18, 2019.

Patricia Cascione, a Saugus woman accused of stealing more than $88,000 from nonprofit groups, including the local Girl Scouts, pleaded no contest Wednesday to one felony count of embezzlement by a public or private officer.

Cascione, 53, appeared Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court where she entered her plea, Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.

“Sentencing is scheduled on Dec. 20,” he said. “She faces 365 days in jail and 5 years’ felony probation.”

Cascione was arrested by detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau, on suspicion of grand theft and theft by false pretense of more than $88,000 in funds allegedly stolen from nonprofit organizations.

After she was arrested, detectives served a search warrant at her home, where they recovered additional evidence, LASD Deputy Marvin Crowder wrote in a news release issued September 2018.

Over the past 20 years, Cascione was entrusted as the treasurer for multiple Girl Scouts of the USA Troops in addition to a local Girl Scouts service unit in Santa Clarita, he wrote in the 2018 news release.

Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau detectives became aware of potential fraudulent activity and initiated a criminal investigation.

It was alleged that in the five years prior to her arrest, Cascione embezzled over $58,000 from several Girl Scout troops and service unit bank accounts over which she had control.

During the investigation, detectives also determined Cascione, while chief financial officer of the Beverly Hills Cancer Center, was alleged to have committed theft by false pretense of over $30,000.

The search warrant and arrest were the culmination of a 15-month investigation.

Cascione was also responsible for fundraising for numerous other organizations in the Santa Clarita Valley.