While working as a bookkeeper for an Indiana school district, Carla Burke embezzled nearly $1 million, according to federal authorities.

Now the 62-year-old woman, of Anderson, has been charged in federal court.

Burke worked as a bookkeeper for the food service department of Anderson Community School Corporation, according to an Oct. 11 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana. In that role, she was in charge of maintaining financial records and issuing checks approved by her supervisor.

But between January 2014 and June 2019, authorities said Burke used that position to embezzle $976,773.29 from the school corporation.

The defense attorney representing Burke could not be reached for comment, but court records show she is pleading guilty to charges of wire fraud and false income tax returns.

Authorities said she stole the money by issuing about 312 checks to herself. Then, to hide what she did, she falsified records — making it look as though she paid a school corporation vendor, according to the release.

Once Burke cashed the checks in her name, authorities said she used the money to fund personal expenditures, “including gambling at several casinos.”

Anderson Community School Corporation did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Oct. 12.

Federal authorities said Burke also submitted false tax returns, omitting about $225,381 in income she stole from schools. She is accused of lying to agents when asked about the scheme.

If Burke is convicted, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Anderson is about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis.