LOCKDOWN: A 60-day jail sentence was handed down to the last director of the Manteca-Lathrop Boys & Girls Club, which is now headed by Manteca's retired police chief.

MANTECA — Former Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Alejandra Vila pleaded guilty last month to one count of credit card theft, after prosecutors agreed to drop two other charges against her.

Vila was sentenced to 60 days in prison on April 24, though she will likely serve her time doing menial labor under the county’s alternative work program.

She was also ordered to pay $3,180 restitution to the Manteca-Lathrop Boys & Girls Club.

Prosecutors initially charged Vila with two counts of credit card theft and one count of embezzlement for allegedly using a club credit card to gamble at a Bay Area card room.

Under her plea agreement, the felony charge of credit card theft was reduced to a misdemeanor and the other charges were dismissed.

Vila refused to discuss any details of the case this week, except to say that she agreed to plead guilty because it was “the best recommendation given by (her) lawyer.”

“I’m going to do whatever I need to do to get this behind me,” Vila said.

Former Police Chief Charlie Halford, who took over Monday as the club’s executive director, did not return phone calls this week.

Club spokesman Dave Bricker, who is also Manteca’s Interim Police Chief, has said board members only discovered the credit card charges after Vila left the club in May 2007.

Though Vila’s resignation was sudden and came after only five months on the job, Bricker has insisted the allegations had nothing to do with her departure.

Vila said she is hoping to work out a schedule with the San Joaquin County Jail that would allow her to keep her job as a youth development coordinator in San Francisco while serving her punishment.

She must begin serving her sentence by June 5.