A Shreveport woman was arrested today for stealing $173,000 from her employer by manipulating company checks, said Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator. 

Catherine Cloud Owens, 45, was employed by a local construction company in its Accounts Payable office. She is accused of duplicating 65 company checks sent to their vendors, creating fraudulent copies of the checks, and making them payable to herself. The checks were then deposited into her personal account using a smartphone app. The activity occurred between August 2014 and February 2017 before being discovered by another employee.

The company notified authorities, and the case was investigated by Caddo Sheriff's Det. Doug Smith with the Caddo-Shreveport Financial Crimes Unit. Owens was arrested for one count of theft and booked into Caddo Correctional Center.