Fidela “Del” Caparas will be officially eligible for parole next month, according to New York State Federal Prison records.

Caparas, 57, who pleaded guilty to grand larceny and was sentenced to a minimum of six years and a maximum of 18 years in jail, has a parole hearing date in March 2006.

If approved, she may be released from the maximum security unit of Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Bedford Hills, N.Y. in May.

“Under certain circumstances, an inmate may be released prior to serving his or her minimum term,” said prison officials.

Prosecutors said Caparas, of East Brunswick, N.J., gave millions away to friends and charitable causes in her homeland. The money, authorities said, was stolen from Manhattan-based weaponry and security magazine publisher Harris Publications, where Caparas worked from 1970 until her arrest in 2000.

As a bookkeeper, Caparas was in charge of the payroll and expenses for the entire company. Prosecutors charged that Caparas began writing company checks made out to herself on more than 50 occasions, for amounts ranging from $15,000 to $75,000.

Although she gave away millions of dollars to philanthropic causes in the Philippines, prosecutors contend that her charity was simply a way to get rid of large sums of dirty money quickly.

If given a chance to be freed early, Caparas told the Filipino Reporter she will do her best to be a productive member of society and will devote the rest of her life to her family, whom she claimed she had “neglected because I was overwhelmed by my friends who were my priority at the time.”