A former police department employee in Pleasants County, West Virginia, pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying about taking a donation from a program where those charged with a DUI could donate cash or gift cards to avoid sanctions, federal prosecutors said.

Carolyn Taylor, 40, of St. Marys, pleaded guilty to perjury on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia.

She is accused of lying to a federal grand jury about taking at least one donation from a government-sanctioned “Slow Down for the Holidays” program that allowed those charged with a DUI and other crimes in the county to donate cash, gift cards or other items of value to avoid prosecution.

“A policy that allows one to buy their way out of a DUI is inherently wrong and never should have been implemented in the first place,” U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld said in the news release. “It is not surprising that someone involved with this ill-advised program kept a portion of the donations for herself.”

Prosecutors said Taylor helped collect the donations while employed as a clerk at the St. Marys Police Department. She allegedly told grand jurors she had no knowledge of anyone personally benefiting from the program and that all proceeds went to charitable causes, the news release said.

Investigators later discovered that she allegedly used at least one of the donated gift cards for her personal benefit.

Taylor faces up to five years of incarceration and a fine of up to $250,000.