SAN DIEGO – A longtime employee of the San Diego Unified School District, accused of stealing $27,000 from a recycling project, pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of misappropriation of public money.

Jesse Michael Macias, 51, faces a possible sentence of up to four years in prison at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Oct. 2. However, a San Diego Superior Court judge indicated Macias would likely sentenced to county jail instead, and be allowed to serve his time in work furlough.

He also will be ordered to pay restitution.

Macias was convicted in May of six charges, including grand theft, which carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison. But a judge later set aside the jury verdict and granted Macias a new trial.

Macias worked for the district for 17 years and was a supervisor in the Maintenance and Operations Department. He was on administrative leave during his trial.

Deputy District Attorney Leon Schorr told the jury that Macias' staffreceived thousands of dollars for recycling steel and aluminum ramps fromportable classrooms between 2005 and 2007. The staff members gave the cash to Macias, but the district never received most of the money.

Defense attorney Michael Earle argued that other district employees hadaccess to the money but were not targeted in the investigation.

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