SLIPPERY ROCK — A hearing for a former municipal secretary accused of using that position to siphon off more than $100,000 in public funds to her own bank account was postponed Tuesday to allow her more time to find an attorney.

Dixie Lynn Christy, 38, of Cherry Township, after trying to hire a private attorney, may be ready to apply for a public defender to see whether she qualifies, prosecutors said.

State police last week arrested Christy, alleging that while serving as Muddy Creek Township's secretary she tapped her knowledge of bookkeeping "to hide and fraudulently execute 103 checks" over 3½ years, court documents said.

Her take in the scheme, in which she allegedly stole money through unauthorized payroll checks that she wrote to herself, totaled $108,848.70, investigators said.

She faces 209 felony counts, including forgery, access device fraud and theft. She is free on $15,000 bail.

Christy showed up Tuesday morning, with her husband but no attorney for her preliminary hearing at the office of Senior District Judge Frank Abate Jr.

Prepared for the hearing, Trooper Bernard Novak, the investigating officer, also showed up, carrying a several-inch thick, three-ring binder full of records and other evidence documenting the investigation.

The defendant asked Abate to continue the hearing since she had not retained counsel.

Butler County Assistant District Attorney Russ Karl did not oppose the request. However, he asked that a condition be added to her bail.

"While on bond," Karl said, "we want to make sure that she can only take care of her personal accounts and that she is not to have any activity in any other financial matters."

Abate granted both requests — Christy's and Karl's. Her new hearing is set for July 28.

Christy declined to comment on the charges before she left Abate's office.

The alleged crime came to light, police said, during the township's October audit of financial records for the prior fiscal year.

Vivian Caruso, a certified public accountant, discovered that Christy had been writing checks from the township to herself, and depositing those checks, supposedly as wages, into her personal bank account, documents said.

Christy, who began working for the township in 2002, was in charge of Muddy Creek's payroll in her secretary's job, so it was not uncommon for her to write checks.

Caruso said based on her review of Muddy Creek's books "it was clear that Christy was stealing funds from the township," a police affidavit said.

The accountant told police that while at the township building Oct. 23, she confronted Christy about the unauthorized wages. Christy claimed the supervisors had authorized the wages for work to archive the township's sewage records.

The explanation did not sit well with Caruso, who contacted Dale Kerr, chairman of the supervisors. She told Kerr that she believed Christy was stealing township funds.

Caruso's suspicions led her to review municipal records of years past. That review, documents said, showed Christy had written herself unauthorized checks dating back to March 2005.

Kerr told police that township checks require two signatures for authorization. He said the defendant routinely brought him checks to sign as part of township business.

He acknowledged that he may have signed off on blank checks that Christy gave him, documents said

"Kerr indicated that he trusted Christy as an employee, the police affidavit said, "and that he did not always examine each check he signed."

The chairman conceded to investigators, police said, that Christy had deceived him. He said he was unaware she had been writing additional checks to herself and that he did not knowingly authorize those checks.

He said the defendant was not authorized to receive overtime pay or write any checks outside her normal pay.

Police in March received copies of Christy's W-2 payroll records, documents said, which showed a dramatic increase in wages of $26,000 in 2004 to $36,380 in 2005, the first year in which she allegedly began benefiting from the unauthorized checks.

In 2006, her gross wages jumped to $71,713, and in 2007 her pay reached $93,800. In 2008, the last year of the alleged scheme, her wages totaled $43,723.

Christy's hourly pay was $12.50 in 2004, $13 in 2005, $14 in 2006 and 2007, and $14.42 in 2008.

Police said the unauthorized checks stopped in October, when the defendant resigned her township position without notice.

Novak would not say Tuesday what police believe Christy did with the allegedly stolen money.

When asked if Christy's husband was aware of the purported scheme, Novak said he didn't know, but added no one else is under investigation.

Township officials have declined to discuss the charges against their former co-worker.

"It's upsetting," Kerr told the Butler Eagle the day after Christy's arrest. He has refused further comment, citing the ongoing criminal matter.