MARSHALL, Mo. (AP) — A former longtime sheriff of Saline County, Missouri, who embezzled thousands of dollars, has been sentenced to nine months in prison.

Wallace Newman George Jr. was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $79,000 in state-issued checks.

The Kansas City Star reports George was sheriff for more than 30 years before resigning more than a year ago.

George, a Saline County native, joined the sheriff’s department in 1970 and was appointed sheriff in 1979, winning re-election since then.

The checks he embezzled were meant to cover the costs of extraditing and transporting prisoners from outside Missouri to the Saline County jail in Marshall, about 90 miles east of Kansas City.

Court documents indicate George deposited the checks in a personal checking account between January 2010 and June 2015.