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$205K in school funds missing, bookkeeper arrested: St. Mary Parish Sheriff
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ST. MARY PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- A former bookkeeper for Patterson High School was arrested today in connection with missing school funds totaling over $205,000, according to the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office announced that 65-year-old Lisa Ann Crochet Powell, of Morgan City, was arrested around 3 p.m. this afternoon. She faces charges including false accounting, theft of more than $25,000, and malfeasance in office.
According to a news release, a complaint was made in mid-August regarding a "significant discrepancy" in the financial records at Patterson High School. Detectives learned the discrepancy spanned from 2020 to 2024.
"Through the investigation, detectives established that Powell was solely responsible for handling receipts for funds collected and depositing those funds into the school’s bank account. As the investigation progressed, numerous discrepancies were found and logged by detectives," the news release read.
The sheriff's office said that at the time of Powell's arrest, the amount of missing funds totaled more than $205,000.
Earlier this month, detectives with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office arrested a St. Mary Parish School Board employee, 31-year-old Dinah Dru Richard, of Patterson, in connection with the theft of school board funds after a school board credit card was allegedly used for personal use.