JACKSON—State Auditor Stacey Pickering announced today that former Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Clerk Stephanie Cooper, 33, surrendered herself to the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, September 6, on charges of embezzlement.

In addition to her arrest, Cooper was issued a demand in the amount of $59,752.75.

Cooper was responsible for record/bookkeeping and used her position to embezzle funds totaling $44,440.58. These embezzled funds were taken from the collections of bond payments, service of process fees and report fees.

“The investigation began after discrepancies were discovered during a routine audit of Pontotoc County,” said Auditor Pickering. “I would like to thank Pontotoc County employees for working closely with my staff on this case.”

Cooper was employed with Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office from November 2002 until September 2016.