Police arrested a freshman employee at Jesse Hall on felony charges of theft after they discovered she took more than $1,000 from the Cashier’s Office.

The 3-month-long investigation ended Feb. 16 when police questioned Diamond Boyd at the MU Police Department station and made the arrest.

Boyd has stolen $1,541 in cash from MU since November, according to an MUPD report. She gained access to university money last semester when she began a work-study program with the Cashier’s Office.

The university has safeguards to ensure accurate accounting. When Boyd began stealing money, those safeguards alerted the university, MU spokesman Christian Basi said.

“This is a perfect example of how these policies have worked,” Basi said. “We were alerted on separate occasions for some things that were out of place, and each time that helped us with the investigation.”

The university investigation took three months because the amount of money Boyd stole is relatively small compared to how much the university processes, Basi said. University officials also wanted to make sure they were dealing with a crime, not just a clerical error.

“We would definitely not want to arrest someone or make an accusation without proper evidence,” Basi said. “And sometimes, depending on the nature of the situation, it just might take a little bit longer for the evidence to come to light.”

The Cashier’s Office called the police after officials felt certain they were dealing with a crime.

“Officers were originally dispatched on Thursday, Feb. 9 at about 8:30 a.m.,” MUPD Capt. Brian Weimer said. A week later, police questioned and charged Boyd, according to the MUPD incident log.

“As long as I’ve been here, I can’t recall something like this happening,” Basi said, citing his 17 years with MU.