L’Observateur / September 9, 2000

LAPLACE – A former billing clerk who used to work in St. John the BaptistParish’s Garyville billing office has been arrested and charged with stealingpublic funds.

Gazielle Arceneaux, 43, 150 Madeline Court, LaPlace was fired Aug. 10 afteran internal audit by the St. John Parish finance department founddiscrepancies with the collection of parish water bills.

The administration’s investigation discovered that deposit slips did notmatch the amount of money that was supposed to be deposited in the bank.

The finance department found over $60,000 in discrepancies.

Further investigation led to the firing of Arceneaux in August. She confessedto the charges but managed to repay $37,000 to the parish.

The parish administration turned the matter over to the St. John ParishSheriff’s Office, and after an investigation, deputies arrested ArceneauxTuesday afternoon.

“She confessed to stealing the money from the parish,” said Capt. MikeTregre, spokesperson for the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office. “She wascharged with theft of $23,041 in parish funds.”Arceneaux remained in the Sherman R. Walker Correctional Center under$20,000 bond Thursday afternoon.

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