For more than 22 years, Violet Jones was a widely respected employee with the Florida Department of Children & Families.

Thursday, her former employers watched in a Fort Lauderdale courtroom as she was sentenced to 17 years in prison for stealing more than $1.5 million intended for needy families.

''What she did is unconscionable,'' Broward Circuit Judge Eileen O'Connor said, adding moments later: ``She stole from people who didn't have enough money to eat, enough money to live.''

Said DCF Regional Director Jack Moss: ``Violet Jones defrauded impoverished people who looked upon her to survive, often as their last stop before homelessness and despair. She betrayed them, and she betrayed their trust.''

Jones herself, wearing a blue jail-issue jumpsuit and holding back tears, said: ``I'm not embarrassed for what I did. I am ashamed.''

Investigators said that from January 2005 to December 2006, Jones, a food stamps supervisor in Plantation, pocketed more than $1.5 million in cash benefits.

In court Thursday, Moss estimated that the money stolen could have gone to more than 8,800 Broward households.

Instead, Jones used her inside knowledge of the DCF system to cover up money transfers she made to electronic cards linked to accounts for welfare recipients.

Jones' own brother and daughter were among the names she used to create fake accounts, prosecutor Michael Horowitz said Thursday.

Overall, Jones approved cash payments on 1,725 separate occasions and sometimes as often as four times a day, according to an internal investigation by DCF.

Investigators said Jones used the money to buy two Lexus vehicles and to gamble at local casinos.

Also charged in the case were sisters Shanika and Tanisha Shorter, who received some of the stolen money.

Shanika Shorter knew Jones from when they worked together at a call center, she said Thursday.

Jones originally pleaded not guilty to charges of grand theft, money laundering, official misconduct and conducting an organized scheme to defraud, but later admitted to the crimes.

The Shorter sisters faced similar charges.

Along with Jones' prison sentence, she was ordered to pay back the $1.5 million she stole plus a $1 million fine.

While she is on probation, she must attend meetings of Gamblers Anonymous, and she is not to hold a job that requires her to make financial transactions.

The Shorter sisters also pleaded guilty.

They were sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison followed by 20 years of probation along with having to pay back close to $700,000.

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