WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A 77-year-old former mail carrier who did not deliver thousands of pieces of mail was fined $1,000 but was spared from prison.

A court filing Tuesday shows Dixie Bontrager, of Whitting, also will not serve any probation on the mail theft conviction.

Her route included Holton and Circleville in northeast Kansas.

Agents searching abandoned vehicles on her property in 2010 found 496 first-class items and 2,786 standard mail items dating back to 2002 that she didn't deliver on her 115-mile route. They also found 151 periodicals, 121 telephone books and two parcels.

Her attorney, Richard Lake, wrote Bontrager discarded undeliverable junk mail. He said she has been devastated and reluctant to show her face in the community.

Bontrager was fired in 2010 after 30 years on the job.