GREENSBURG — Nearly $50,000 in COVID-19 relief funds were stolen from St. Helena Parish in a May 2024 cyberattack, an audit of the parish's Police Jury released Monday said. 

According to the audit, an unauthorized party impersonating a vendor requested that the vendor’s electronic payment information be changed. After the change was made, $48,348.38 in American Rescue Plan Act funds was sent to the unauthorized party.

The stolen funds were reported to local law enforcement, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's Office and the Police Jury’s insurance carrier. The audit noted that the Police Jury recovered the stolen funds through insurance. 

The audit recommends using the fraud prevention service Positive Pay to electronically match issued checks and electronic transactions, as well as prohibiting payments using email links. 

"This situation has prompted us to review and improve our internal controls and cybersecurity," a statement from the Police Jury said.

The audit also found that the Police Jury paid $70,902.11 for gravel and materials to a vendor not on its list to provide bids.

The Police Jury also failed to amend the Road, Building and Maintenance Fund budget when actual revenues were less than budgeted revenues by more than 5%, and failed to file its audit report with the Legislative Auditor’s office within the required time frame, the audit noted. 

The full audit can be found here.