By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

HAHNVILLE – A 20-year veteran of the St. Charles Clerk of Court’s office was arrested this week after authorities discovered she had accepted payments for speeding tickets and allegedly pocketed the money.

Tina Bourque, 41, of Des Allemands, was booked on two counts of malfeasance in office and two counts of theft under $500 and injuring public records, according to Capt. Pat Yoes, spokesperson for the St. Charles Sheriff’s Office. Bourque’s bond was set at $25,000, but she was released after posting $2,530.

Yoes said Bourque, who was assigned to process traffic court records, allegedly took two $116 payments for speeding tickets in the parish between January and March of 2011 and pocketed the money for herself. Yoes said one payment was in cash and the other was a check that listed no payee.

The theft was discovered on Nov. 2 after the person who wrote the check and delivered it to Bourque received notification of withdrawal of driving privileges for not paying for the fines. Yoes said the investigation revealed that Bourque cashed the check at a local store. He said court records showed the charges were not prosecuted, and there was no record of payment.

Yoes said St. Charles Parish Clerk of Court Charles Oubre and his office have cooperated with the investigation, and additional charges are possible as more records are looked at.

Sheriff Greg Champagne is asking anyone who may have sought assistance from Bourque for traffic citations to contact the Criminal Investigations Division at 985-783-1135 to determine if the matter was resolved appropriately.