City employee accused of stealing funds

HOUSTON Jessica Burton of the Houston Health and Human Services Department (HHSD) is charged with theft by a public servant.

According to court documents, Burton, 27, had processed applications for the issuance of birth and death certificates, but had failed to enter the information into the HHSD system and did not deposit the collected funds with HHSD. The dates of the offenses were from June 2009 through November of 2009.

Court documents state that Burton issued more than 650 certificates worth an amount of $15,140. The investigation revealed that Burton used different and phony "batch numbers" on the certificates, and issued multiple certificates for one requestor to conceal the theft.

Burton is being held on $30,280 bond.