Catherine Bell, 70, of Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, stole more than £54,000 from Jewish Care Scotland over a five-year period while working for the charity as a senior social care worker.
She was sentenced at Paisley Sheriff Court on July 15 after pleading guilty to embezzling the funds from the East Renfrewshire-based charity between October 2013 and October 20-18.
Anne Marie Hicks, Procurator Fiscal for North Strathclyde, said: “As an employee of a charitable organisation, Catherine Bell committed an appalling breach of financial trust.
“She flagrantly abused her position to embezzle thousands of pounds.
“The fact that she embezzled the money from a charity makes this an even more egregious offence.
“This case demonstrates that those who seek to exploit charitable and public funds for their own personal gain will be held fully accountable for their crimes.
“We will always prosecute in such cases when it is in the public interest and where there is evidence to do so.”
The court told how Bell’s position gave her access to the not-for-profit charity’s funds and allowed her to authorise payments to members of the local Jewish community suffering from financial hardship.
She set up payments for four families totalling between £35 and £70 each week.
As well as those regular payments, Bell also applied for one-off amounts.
But none of the cash ever reached the families.
In 2018, charity officials carried out an internal investigation after a compliance check identified financial discrepancies.
And that investigation revealed that Bell had stolen a total of £54,435 from the charity.