COLUMBIANA – The case of against a Maylene woman who allegedly embezzled thousands of dollars from a local school in the Shelby County School system was recently bound over to a grand jury during its December session.

Tyee Marks Eason, 46, who lists an address on West Grande View Terrace in Alabaster, was initially arrested and charged with theft of property in the first degree by the Helena Police Department on June 1.

According to the Shelby County BOE, Eason had been employed as the bookkeeper at Helena Middle School since the school’s opening in 2008. Eason’s arrest warrants allege that she “knowingly obtained or exerted unauthorized control over U.S. currency having a value of $100,014.31 with the intent to deprive the owner of said property” between February 2015 and January 2016. According to court documents, the money was considered the property of HMS and the SCBOE.

According to a June press release from the SCBOE, Eason was placed on administrative leave and the investigation surrounding the crime is ongoing.

First-degree theft of property is a class B felony, which could result in a prison sentence of up to 20 years upon conviction. In July, the Shelby County Prosecutor P. Douglas Smith Jr. filed a notice of intent “to seek upward departure from sentencing guidelines” to push for a higher than average sentence for Eason if she is convicted. Smith cited Eason’s “fiduciary relationship,” the “great monetary loss to the victims” and the crime’s “high degree of sophistication and planning” as reasons why Eason’s sentence should be more severe than a normal sentence.

Eason was held at the Shelby County Jail, and was released on bonds totaling $30,000 on the day of her June arrest.