A wobbly-voiced Dawn Castaneda changed her plea today to "Guilty" on one charge of Felony Class 4 theft in Judge Tina Ainley's courtroom. Ainley accepted the change of plea, and Castaneda will be sentenced on March 5 at 3 pm.

Before allowing Castaneda to enter the plea, Ainley asked several questions to ensure that Castaneda understood what she was doing, and what the potential consequences were. With this plea, Castaneda will have a criminal record for the rest of her life, the Judge explained. According to Judge Tina Ainley, the penalty for a Class 4 Felony theft is either serving a jail sentence that would last anywhere from 1.5 years to 3.75 years. In Arizona, felony charges require at least 85% of the sentence to be served. Alternatively, Castaneda could be given four years of probation.

Castaneda, who sounded like she was close to crying, said she understood. When asked what her plea was to the felony charge, Castaneda clearly answered, "Guilty."

Castaneda's charges stem from allegations that as an employee, she stole several items from the City of Prescott. She was actually indicted on 4 felonies and 1 misdemeanor.

See: Dawn Castaneda Charged with 4 Felonies, 1 Misdemeanor

Castaneda also has a pending misdemeanor shoplifting charge from a December 22 incident at Target. She was supposed to show up in court for a hearing yesterday, but did not arrive. According to Court personnel, if she does not arrive by tomorrow, a notice will be sent to her informing her that if she does not appear by February 13, a warrant will be issued for her arrest.

Prosecuting attorney Jace Zack said he does not expect the shoplifting charges to affect this plea agreement reached today, although he did request a pre-sentencing report.

Eric English, Castaneda's attorney on the original charges, said he is not defending her on the recent charge of shoplifting, and does not believe she has any representation on that charge.

When asked if he and Castaneda were satisfied with the agreement reached today, English replied, "Well, I think it was a bitter pill for Miss Castaneda to swallow, but it was in her best interest to accept this plea. The way the State structured the indictment, had she lost at trial, the state could file a piece of paper that would require the judge to send her to prison. And that was a significant risk. She has family that she is supporting and she didn't want to take that risk and the plea agreement was a fair outcome in the case."

What sentence does English think Castaneda will serve? "It's up to the judge. And the judge hasn't given any indication whether or not she'll do some jail. That's the purpose of the presentence report, and that's basically what's going to happen at this time."