GRAND FORKS - A former bookkeeper for the Hugo's grocery chain has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $13,000 from the company.

Marilyn Nygaard used the money for gambling, said her attorney, Joel Arnason.

Nygaard was charged in early October with taking about $13,500 from Hugo's from mid-2002 until shortly before her arrest this fall. The actual amount is being determined by accountants, Arnason said.

Nygaard had worked as a bookkeeper at the Hugo's headquarters store in Grand Forks for about two decades.

She pleaded guilty to Class B felony theft, Arnason said. She is to be sentenced next month.

"She is in gambling treatment and in Gamblers Anonymous," Arnason said. Nygaard is "very serious," about facing her problem and taking responsibility for it, he said.

Hugo's has four stores in Grand Forks and one each in Jamestown and in East Grand Forks, Crookston and Thief River Falls, Minn.