By LEONARD GRAY

LULING – A 10-year employee of St. Charles Parish Hospital in Luling was arrested Thursday night of stealing approximately $700,000 during a seven-year period, while she worked as a payroll clerk.

According to Capt. Patrick Yoes of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, Cynthia H. Rogers, 44, of 200 River Village Drive, Destrehan, was charged with three counts of forgery and one count of theft over $500. Rogers posted a $10,000 cash bond and was released.

According to hospital administrator Fred Martinez, Rogers stole the money from 1995-2002. She was fired in December for inappropriate access of the computer system.

Martinez said her techniques included bogus garnishments, payroll deductions to savings accounts which ended up in hers and manipulating the computer to generate time to another employee and she would take those checks and deposit them into her account by forging their endorsements.

In a Dec. 11 press release, Martinez said irregularities were uncovered through a routine audit conducted during the previous week and turned up the systematic theft from payrolls. Once the matter was uncovered, a full investigation began and Rogers allegedly admitted to the theft. Martinez said the evidence was turned over to the State Legislative Auditor, and to an accounting firm with instructions to conduct a full investigation into this matter, plus a full analysis of the hospital’s payroll practices.

Martinez added the hospital may recover all of the lost funds through their insurance coverage, and he added the investigation is continuing “to make sure no one else was involved.”

Already, improvements have been made in the payroll computer system to prevent a similar instance in the future.