AUBURN - A Groton woman could receive up to six months in jail after she pleaded guilty to acting as a lookout for a tri-county burglary ring that targeted several local businesses last summer.

Juliana Salerno, 30, of 306 Elm St., Groton, admitted that she stayed in the car in order to warn her co-defendant, Daniel P. Samson, 24, of 123 Church St., Groton, if anyone showed up while he broke into a gate house at Long Point State Park on June 22.

Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann said the pair have also been connected to burglaries at the Triangle Restaurant and Salmon Creek Sportsman Club, both in Cayuga County, in addition to several other thefts in Tompkins and Cortland county.

The duo was caught by a special task force as they were attempting to burglarize a Buttermilk Falls State Park ticket booth in Ithaca on July 24. The task force, which included deputies from the Cayuga Tompkins and Cortland county sheriffs' offices and troopers from the new York State Police, was created after those agencies realized their burglaries were connected, police said.

In exchange for the plea deal, Salerno will have to cooperate in the investigation against Samson, whose charges are still pending.

Salerno's guilty plea to felony burglary satisfied another burglary charge and two counts of misdemeanor petit larceny.

After Cayuga County Judge Thomas Leone set bail at $2,500 cash or $5,000 bond, he said he would release Salerno, who has a prior conviction for possessing methamphetamine, if she got into an inpatient treatment facility to deal with the underlying drug problem that caused her to participate in the crime.