A Buchanan woman is accused of embezzling more than $75,000 while working as a civilian employee of the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department, according to the county prosecutor’s office.

JoAnn Roberts, 66, has been charged with one count of embezzlement of $50,000 to $100,000 — a felony carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Bond has been set at 10 percent of $10,000.

In a news release, the prosecutor’s office said Roberts was in a position to prepare tether collections for deposit with the county treasurer. These tether collections were the monies collected from defendants for their use of tether equipment while on bond in a criminal case, or as part of a sentence on a misdemeanor charge.

The prosecutor’s office is alleging that Roberts removed cash from tether collection envelopes and deposited the cash into her personal account.

Roberts allegedly would replace the cash in those envelopes from tether receipts received later. However, over time she was not able to continue to replace money, the prosecutor’s office said. The amount Roberts is alleged to have taken and not replaced is more than $75,000.

The prosecutor’s office said the embezzlement did not interfere with a defendant’s participation in the tether program because defendants were credited with their payments upon receipt by the tether department.

There is evidence to suggest much of the embezzled money by Roberts was used for gambling purposes, the news release said.

Roberts has worked as a jail population manager at the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department since 1998. In her role, Roberts would gather data on individual inmates which would assist judges in making pre-trial release decisions. Duties relating to the tether program collections were added in recent years. She resigned from her employment last month.

The case was investigated by detectives from the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Department at the request of Berrien County Sheriff Paul Bailey.

Roberts is scheduled to appear for a preliminary exam conference Dec. 9 in Berrien County Court.