A Louisiana Division of Administration employee was arrested amid allegations she stole health premiums from state retirees, an act her boss called “egregious and unacceptable.”

Nellie P. Rogers faces multiple felony counts of forgery, bank fraud and malfeasance of office, according to the Louisiana Office of State Inspector General, who investigated the allegations with state police and the state attorney general’s office.

Part of Rogers’ job with the state agency, which performs various administrative functions, included collecting health insurance premiums for recent retirees and then submitting them to the Office of Group Benefits, which oversees health insurance plans for current and retired state employees.

An investigation found that between Jan. 25 and July 24, Rogers allegedly intercepted 13 separate checks made payable and submitted to the Division of Administration by recent retirees to cover health insurance premiums.

Rather than crediting them to the retirees’ accounts and forwarding the appropriate amounts to the Office of Group Benefits, Rogers is accused of altering the checks to make her an additional payee.

The state inspector general’s office said Rogers took the checks, totaling $4.078.80, and deposited them into her own bank account.

Angele Davis, commissioner of the state’s division of administration, said in a statement that once she was alerted to a possible problem, she ordered the division’s internal audit office to investigate and two days later, the employee was suspended pending a complete investigation.

“The behavior alleged in this case is egregious and unacceptable, and we moved swiftly to stop it and to take prompt corrective action,” Davis said. “We are now working with the Office of Group Benefits to make certain that policy holders are protected and that victims are restored. And we have worked with the Inspector General’s office to improve procedures to make sure something like this never happens again.”