St. Landry Parish Sheriff's deputies have booked a former town employee with theft and malfeasance in office.
A warrant was arrested for Erica Shauntrell Zacharie, 38, last week. She turned herself in and was booked with one count theft and one count malfeasance in office.
Zacharie, 38, used to work for the Town of Washington, deputies say.
Back in December, an employee of the town called to report a theft by a former employee. A citizen found out a ticket they had received was placed in collections, and called to tell the town he had paid the ticket. The victim told the town employees that he had called and spoken with an employee named Erica.
The victim told "Erica" that he couldn't come to the office to pay the ticket, and asked if he could pay another way, deputies said. "Erica" told him he could pay via Cash App, then gave an account ID to him. He used the app to pay $668 back in March 2018, deputies said.
The victim didn't realize that the payment had not gone to the town until December 2022, when his license was suspended for non-payment of the ticket, deputies said.
Deputies got a warrant for Zacharie's CashApp account, and found the payment there, deputies say.
Other documentation from Cash App also confirmed that Erica Zacharie received citation payments from several other people whose citation payments should have been submitted to the Town of Washington, deputies say.
But when questioned by detectives, Erica Zacharie denied having a Cash App account and also denied receiving a citation payment from the victim.
On March 17, 2023, an arrest warrant was issued for Erica Zacharie for theft and malfeasance in office.
On March 25, 2023, Erica Shauntrell Zacharie turned herself in at the St. Landry Parish Jail and booked on the warrant issued for her arrest.
