PORT ALLEN- West Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office employee Mandy Miller has remained on the payroll for nearly three months, as investigations remain pertaining to $150,000 that went missing. Sources said Miller confessed to stealing money from the department.

Payroll records obtained by the WBRZ Investigative Unit through a public records request show Miller earns $72,141.12 to process traffic tickets. She's been employed since 1998.

Continued questions to Sheriff Mike Cazes about why Miller remains on the payroll have gone unanswered.

"It does not make a lot of sense to me, after she admitted stealing, to keep paying her," LSU Law Professor Ken Levy said. "This was a terrible decision. I would like to see other decisions he's made in similar circumstances to see if there was a pattern. It certainly looks like he was going to bat for an employee and maybe he thought they could both get away with it."

One employee that Cazes did not go to bat for was Aimee Rivere. Rivere was arrested in September facing multiple felony charges after she was accused of stealing money from the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Work Release Program. Rivere was not allowed to continue collecting a check. She was terminated.

Levy questions why Cazes would keep Miller on the payroll after she admitted to stealing.

"If it was perfectly on the up-and-up and perfectly appropriate for him to continue paying Ms. Miller, I would think he would have told us by now," Levy said.

With no explanation by Cazes, his own employees continue to question his decisions as each day passes and Miller remains on the payroll.