A Morgan City Juvenile Court employee was arrested by Louisiana State Police for the theft of funds from her job.

Verna A. Lightfoot, 34, was arrested Wednesday for theft, forgery and malfeasance in office.

The state’s Criminal Investigations Division, Lafayette Field Office said Lightfoot, as the Juvenile Service Administrator, was writing checks from Juvenile Services to individuals and cashing those checks for herself. The investigation also revealed that Lightfoot was using company checks to make purchases from various places and then returning the items and keeping the refunds.

The theft of funds totaled nearly $35,000 over the period of one year. The funds belonged to the Juvenile City Court of Morgan City.

She was incarcerated at the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center in Centerville where she posted a bond of $25,000 and was released.

City Court Judge Kim Stansbury could not comment this morning.

“The cannons of judicial ethics prohibit me from commenting on a pending case — as much as I would like to,” Stansbury said.