A former window clerk at the Vinton post office pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to embezzling more than $12,300, according to a federal prosecutor.

Francis Dale Rickerd, 50, was a part-time employee at the post office from 2001 through several months in 2004, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Waering. He confessed to embezzlement in April and was dismissed from the post office, Waering said. During that time, Rickerd stole money from the post office by several methods, she said.

- Jen McCaffery