City-parish worker faces theft charge

LAFAYETTE — District Attorney Mike Harson said his office will likely pursue a misdemeanor theft charge against Roxanne Andrus, who is accused of cashing a blank money order paid by a person who signed up for a rehabilitation class offered through the city.

Andrus worked as a sentence coordinator for Lafayette Consolidated Government when she was arrested in September on one count each of malfeasance in office and theft, police have said.

Her standing with the city could not be verified Monday because government offices were closed in observance of Presidents Day.

A city project manager filed a complaint Aug. 31 alleging that Andrus cashed a $160 money order and logged the person’s payment as having been paid by a state grant that paid for such fees, police have said.

Harson said the complaint alleges that four money orders were misappropriated, but “only one of the four could be linked to her.”

Investigators were unable to identify who the other three money orders belonged to, Harson said.

Andrus is a former Lafayette lawyer who was disbarred in 2004 for “reprehensible conduct,” according to the state Supreme Court.

The court’s actions stemmed from a complaint filed by a nursing home about Andrus’ representation of a 92-year-old woman who was a resident at the home.

The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel said Andrus mishandled an estimated $47,000 of the woman’s money after the woman legally authorized Andrus to assist her in handling her financial affairs.

In its order, the Supreme Court said Andrus “exploited the power of attorney granted her by an elderly client ... as a means to finance what can only be described as a personal ‘shopping spree.’ ”

In disbarring Andrus, the high court found that Andrus “poses a threat of danger to the public in the event she is permitted to resume practicing law.”