A former teacher in Bergen County was sentenced on Friday to five years in state prison for bilking friends and colleagues out of more than $300,000.

Suzette Hart, of Oradell, pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception in August and was sentenced last week in New Jersey Superior Court, according to court records.

She was taken into custody immediately after sentencing, records show.

Hart, 59, was a teacher with Hackensack Public Schools earning a yearly salary of $115,440 when she was arrested on Oct. 13, 2020.

Her webpage has since been removed from the district’s site.

According to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Hart solicited multiple investors for various high-yield, well-known investment opportunities knowing that the investments were fraudulent.

Hart accepted more than $300,000 from investors and used the money on her own personal expenses without conducting investment activity, the prosecutor’s office said at the time.

Hart’s victims included friends and colleagues. The scam that lasted from 2012 to 2017, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Detectives received complaints about Hart in May 2019, and arrested her the following year.