The State - News from Aug. 27, 1989

A former Oakland School District payroll clerk is accused of using her Bible study group in a scheme to embezzle more than $24,000 from the district, police reported. Marie Louise Bell, 48, was arrested at her Richmond home on a warrant charging her with grand theft. Police said Bell masterminded a kickback scheme in which overtime and payroll records of some custodians were allegedly falsified. Officers said Bell apparently selected the custodians at random and on their paychecks would occasionally pay each of them a minimum of “several hundred dollars for unworked overtime.” After the custodians received their first overtime payment, officer said Bell then contacted them and essentially said, “If you like what we’re doing we can keep it up, but I get some.”