A Belmont woman used her position as a nurse and pastors wife to defraud two elderly people . Deborah Costner Taylor pleaded guilty in court Friday to identity theft and obtaining property by false pretense . The 49 - year - old woman will serve more than four months behind bars . After entering her plea , Taylor turned to one of her victims and apologized . I m sorry to everyone I ve hurt , and I pray one day that y all can forgive me , she said . Misplaced faith Taylor gained the trust of an elderly man and woman before stealing from them . She is married to the pastor of East Belmont Baptist Church and worked at CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia at the time of the incidents . Those connections gave her access to the people she victimized , members of her church . Taylor offered to help two elderly members of the congregation who were having medical issues . She helped treat them , looked in on them , changed bandages and then began to access their personal information to her benefit , Gaston County Assistant District Attorney Beth Stockwell said . Criminal charges More than a dozen arrest warrants were issued for Taylor in February 2014 . Between 2013 and 2014 , Taylor used the mans credit card to make purchases . She also wrote checks to herself from the womans bank account and used the womans identity to open a credit card . Checks totaled nearly $ 600 , and charges totaled about $ 1,300 from several Gastonia stores . Prior to the identity theft charges , Taylor had already found herself in trouble with the law . Stolen drugs Taylor pleaded guilty in July to stealing painkillers from CaroMont on her days off . Taylor worked for the hospital in 2013 and used her passcodes to take Dilaudid , morphine and oxycodone . She would then note that the medications had been dispensed to patients . The hospitals security system picked up on the discrepancies , and Taylor was arrested in March 2013 . She was sentenced to two years of probation . Drug addiction Drug addiction is at the root of Taylors crimes , according to her attorney , David Phillips . Taylor had a back injury years ago . A prescription for Percocet turned into an addiction , Phillips said . Since her July conviction , Taylor spent 134 days in drug rehabilitation , according to her attorney . Jail time Taylor , 49 , will spend 135 days behind bars , a sentence that begins Monday . Superior Court Judge Eric Levinson allowed Taylor to wait until Monday to report to jail so she can attend a family members funeral . Once Taylor is released , she will spend five years on probation and complete more than 100 hours of community service . ;