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The head clerk for the Village of Sun was arrested Friday, Nov. 13 for theft and malfeasance in office after it was discovered she stole more than $4,000 of village funds.

On Aug. 15, 2020, William Talley, the mayor of the Village of Sun, discovered evidence of embezzlement from the village’s finances.

The village conducted an internal investigation and determined the village’s head clerk, Virginia Marie Bays (DOB 5/27/1959), had systematically stolen approximately $4,705.95 worth of cash money from the village over the course of several months. The money was generated as revenue from traffic citations paid by citizens, as well as revenue created from the village’s operational skating rink.

Mayor Talley filed a report with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office and began working with detectives from the STPSO Financial Crimes Unit on the case. While being interviewed by detectives, Bays admitted to stealing the money and removing the hard copies of the citations from the office in an effort to conceal the theft.

On Friday, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s arrested Bays on warrants for one count each of L.R.S. 14:67.B.3 Theft Between $1,000 and $5,000, L.R.S. 14:132 Injuring Public Records and L.R.S. 14:134 Malfeasance in Office.

She was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail.