WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- A clerk for the Pulaski County public administrator's office has been charged with 17 felony stealing counts for allegedly taking more than $16,000 from private checking accounts managed by the office, Attorney General Jay Nixon said Monday. Cathi M. Leuthen, 25, of Crocker is accused of taking the money from January through October 2003, said Nixon, whose office was appointed as a special prosecutor in the case.

No phone number was listed for Leuthen, and no one immediately returned a message left Monday evening at the public administrator's office.

Nixon said the probable cause statement alleges that checks were illegally written on several accounts and often were used to pay Leuthen's personal bills. Some of the money also went to her boyfriend, he said. The charges cover checks totaling $16,348.