A Gadsden woman has pleaded guilty to bilking her elderly mother out of more than $2.5 million.

Gina Cook Gilbert, 63, entered her guilty plea Friday to one count of first-degree financial exploitation, which is a Class B felony, according to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.

Gilbert had been made conservator over the financial account of her mother, Patricia Jerome, in October 2014.

Less than four years after being appointed conservator over the account, it was discovered that Gilbert used her mother’s financial resources for her own personal expenses and breached her duties in caring for her mother’s resources, authorities said.

During a civil lawsuit concerning the conservatorship and the subsequent criminal investigation, Gilbert admitted that she was unable to account for more than $2.5 million of her mother’s financial resources.

Although Gilbert repaid the stolen funds at the end of the civil case, her mother died before she saw her daughter held accountable for taking advantage of her position as conservator.

After pleading guilty, Gilbert was sentenced to five years in prison, and ordered to serve two years of probation.

“Elderly citizens deserve to be protected and taken care of when they are unable to care for themselves without worrying that their caregiver is exploiting them,” Marshall said.

“Unfortunately, this can even happen when the caregiver is a family member,’’ he said. “We cannot allow those who take advantage of the elderly to go unpunished, and I will continue to fight to make sure we hold those accountable who have accepted the responsibility to care for another person.”