BATON ROUGE - A West Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office employee is facing criminal charges after it was discovered she'd taken thousands of dollars from the department's work release program. The arrest has now kicked off a wider investigation into missing money at the department. 

Watch Nakamoto's report live at 6:00

Arrest documents from the sheriff's office said Aimee Riviere, 36, is accused of stealing cash and cutting herself two fraudulent checks, taking a total of $4,996 from the inmate account fund.

Riviere was arrested in late August and booked on charges of malfeasance, forgery and felony theft. The arrest prompted an audit of the department's accounting, which uncovered even more discrepancies.

The sheriff's office has contacted the State Legislative Auditor's Office to investigate further. 

"I have reached out to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office, which I am required by law to do. It is imperative that a fair, impartial and thorough investigation be conducted," Sheriff Mike Cazes said in a statement to WBRZ's Chief Investigator Chris Nakamoto. 

An investigation into what happened to that money is ongoing.