WATERLOO - A former clerk of courts employee has been arrested for allegedly stealing money while she was on the job.

The arrest came just days before the Iowa State Auditor's Office released a report that identified some $537,980 in "undeposited collections" at the Black Hawk County Clerk of Courts Office.

In court records filed Wednesday, agents with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation claim Tina Marlene Zieser, 44, also known as Tina Kimber, took money from the Black Hawk County Clerk of Courts Office over a four-year period.

Zieser, of 816 Wildwood Road, was arrested Wednesday for four counts of first-degree theft. She was release from jail Thursday.

The arrest came following audits of the office done by State Auditor's Office. Zieser, who had worked as a bookkeeper for the clerks office since September 1995, was placeed on administrative leave Dec. 18, 2007, after others in the office became suspicious of a shortage. She later resigned from her job in lieu of termination, according to the audit, which was released this morning.

DCI investigators allege Zieser's theft goes back as far as 2004. Court records allege she took at least $10,000 a year during the years of 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

While she was working, Zieser's duties included taking cash and checks from defendants who were making payments on fines and court costs.

Records from a 2008 hearing regarding Zieser's unemployment benefits allege she pocketed the money and then went into the office computer system to alter defendants' punishment from fines to community service to cover her tracks.

In December 2007, a supervisor noticed a $380 shortage and discovered Zieser altered a defendant's account to show a $380 credit for community service instead of a $380 payment. There was no court order allowing the defendant to convert fines to community service.

A preliminary audit found Zieser allegedly altered 30 transactions totalling $7,596 between Dec. 3 and Dec. 18, according to records from the unemployment hearing.

The full audit found $537,980 in payments that were recorded as community service between January 2004 and December 2007.

The majority of the improper transactions were processed under the names "TKIMBER" and "KIMB07," which were Zieser's user names in the computer system.

Zieser denied any wrongdoing when confronted by auditors. She noted that her computer account's user name and password were in her desk and could have been seen by anyone.