BATON ROUGE - A former LSU employee who was fired last year after he worked from home without permission for at least six months was arrested after he was accused of refusing to return university property after his termination.

38-year-old Srinivas Thouta, of Irving, Texas, was booked on charges unauthorized use of a movable, malfeasance in office and theft.

LSU Campus Police said Thouta was fired in December from his position as network manager for the LSU Manship School of Communication’s Public Policy Research Lab after the school learned he had stopped reporting to work in July of 2015. He been employed by the university since 2003.

While authorities said the man continued to perform duties for LSU, he did not have permission to work remotely from his managers. His position gave him the authority to make purchases using an LSU VISA card, but he did not have permission to take the items off campus.

The arrest reports says on Feb. 24, the dean of the Manship School received an email from Thouta that stated he still had several pieces of LSU property including laptops and other electronics equipment, and he would be shipping those items back to LSU.

When Thouta didn’t mail the items, campus police set up a planned meeting in Shreveport to reclaim the items, but Thouta did not show up and ceased contact with campus administration thereafter.

When police searched his Irving, Texas residence this week, they said they recovered around $6,000 worth of electronics equipment.