Former Revenue Department worker charged with theft
A former Florida Department of Revenue employee has been charged with having “deposited 168 money orders that appear to have been stolen” from the department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said in a Friday news release.
Paula Lynne Mrozek, who also goes by Paula Lynne Burke, was charged with felony grand theft over $750 but less than $5,000, the release said. The 52-year-old Tallahassee resident was booked into the Leon County Jail, where she was later released on $2,500 bail, court records show.
This week’s charges follow her February arrest, when she was “charged with altering money orders intended for motor vehicle taxes and depositing them into her personal bank account while she worked for DOR,” FDLE said.
And, the agency added, “additional charges are pending completion of the investigation.” The case is being investigated by FDLE’s Tallahassee Organized Crime squad. Mrozek could not immediately be reached and no attorney has yet been listed for her in Leon County court dockets.
Her trouble with the law began when she was charged with grand theft of more than $20,000, also a felony.
“Mrozek made 41 deposits of altered money orders totaling $23,915.88 ... Authorities at DOR were alerted to the criminal activity when a local credit union noticed suspicious ATM activity and notified the agency,” FDLE said in its release.
More recently, “FDLE agents received a new tip from a local credit union that Mrozek’s bank deposits were suspicious,” with an investigation revealing the latest 168 money orders, three of which having been “altered similar to the altered money orders in her Feb. 21, 2024 arrest,” the release said.
News Director Jim Rosica can be reached at jrosica@tallahassee.com. Follow him on X: @JimRosicaFL.