RUSSELLVILLE — Authorities said a former employee of a local manufacturing company has been indicted after being accused of embezzling $266,000 from the business.

Courthouse officials said the first-degree theft of property indictment was issued against James Harold Moody, 49, 215 Frederick St., Bear Creek.

Moody was arrested in August after investigators said he embezzled the money from Franklin Homes. The business produces manufactured homes.

Investigators said he stole the money during a six-year period, with accusations dating to at least 2006. They said Moody is accused of making checks payable to himself and not listing them in the company’s financial ledger.

“It’s our understanding that he was also writing himself extra payroll checks,” Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said at the time of Moody’s arrest.

Oliver said Moody worked for the company for more than 20 years.

He was the comptroller and in charge of all financial activity for more than 10 years.

“With him handling all the finances, he could easily hide the fact that he was taking the money, and no one would know the better,” Oliver said.

Investigators said the allegations surfaced in November 2011 shortly after the company hired an assistant for Moody. They said that led to the discovery of a discrepancy between checks written from company accounts versus what was written in the ledger.

Reports show company officials confronted Moody about the matter and he was terminated. They reportedly tried to work with Moody to repay the money, but he didn’t follow through.

“It appears the company tried to give him every chance, but he didn’t take it,” Oliver said. “As soon as we were contracted, we began an investigation, which ultimately led to Mr. Moody being arrested and now being indicted.”

Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said Moody will be arraigned Jan. 13 and his case could be placed on the February circuit court docket.

First-degree theft of property is a Class B felony and punishable by 2-20 years in prison if convicted.

Moody is out of jail on bail totaling $25,000.

Tom Smith can be reached at 256-740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.