A Quincy man has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in prison for orchestrating a check fraud scheme while working as a property manager of a Newton apartment complex.

Prosecutors said William Gauthier committed a check fraud scheme in which he defrauded his employer and tenants out of thousands of dollars in rent money.

Gauthier, 56, told tenants to make out rent checks to him personally or to a business that he owned. He then deposited these checks into his personal account without the knowledge or permission of his employer.

Gauthier also deposited two rent checks into his own personal account that were made payable to his employer by forging his employer’s signature on the back of the checks. Gauthier later repaid a portion of the stolen money back to his employer’s account.

"Mr. Gauthier used his position as property manager to steal thousands of dollars in rent money from his employer and people who trusted him for his own personal use," Attorney General Martha Coakley said. "Crimes such as this will not go unpunished and our office will continue to investigate and prosecute those who misuse their positions to perpetrate criminal activities."

Gauthier pleaded guilty to three counts of larceny over $250, two counts of forgery and two counts of uttering.

On June 1, Gauthier was sentenced to serve two and a half years in the House of Correction, after he pleaded guilty to a scheme he operated in Suffolk County in which he stole more than $1 million from former employers.

Yesterday, after his plea was entered, Superior Court Judge Bruce R. Henry sentenced Gauthier to serve an additional six months in the House of Correction upon the completion of his Suffolk sentence. Judge Henry also sentenced Gauthier to serve three years probation after his release, and ordered him to pay $11,227 to his former employer, which represents the balance of the unrecovered stolen funds.