PEORIA - A 38-year-old Decatur woman has been charged in U.S. District Court in Peoria with mail fraud for allegedly embezzling more than $800,000 from a local development firm and with tax evasion for allegedly failing to pay taxes on the purloined money.

Charges were filed Monday against Jennifer L. Campbell, who allegedly took the money from Dowd Development Co. between 1999 and 2006. She was office manager for the company at the time of the alleged embezzlement.

The charges allege Campbell wrote checks payable to her on business accounts and then failed to accurately enter those checks into the books and records of Dowd Development. She issued the checks to herself in an amount equal to what one of the business partners was to receive.

Campbell then changed the identity of the payee in the company's check register maintained on the business computer. She also allegedly forged the drawer's signature on the checks.

The fraudulent checks were deposited into bank accounts under Campbell's name, and she diverted bank statements and canceled checks to a post office box she controlled. Campbell removed canceled checks reflecting the diverted income from the firm's bank statements to conceal her fraud.

Campbell allegedly used the stolen money to purchase items such as jewelry, home improvements and vehicles.

Campbell allegedly failed to report the stolen money on her 2005 income tax return filed Feb. 20, 2006.