RUMFORD – The secretary who reported money missing from the Mountain Valley Middle School vault almost two years ago was indicted Thursday for taking more than $10,000, including $125 raised by students for Hurricane Katrina victims.

Susan G. Lizotte, 49, of 685 Prospect Ave., Rumford, was Principal Charles Lever’s secretary in November 2005, when she reported the funds missing.

After an investigation, she was fired from the job she had held for 10 years, SAD 43 Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said.

“We feel a lot of relief. Since the theft was reported, we’ve been looking for an indictment. I’m pleased we’ve stuck with it,” he said Thursday night, hours after the action by the Oxford County grand jury.

Mexico police Chief Jim Theriault had said that about $14,000 had been stolen, including several hundred dollars that students had raised to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. He said the theft took place between Nov. 8 and 16, 2005. The money was taken from a locked file cabinet inside a vault in the school’s main office.

The cash and checks were in three money bags. Of the $4,000 cash, about $125 was the result of a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina victims. The remaining cash and checks were from student fees, raffles, a sixth-grade dance, and other money slated for the student activities’ fund, Hodgkin said.

Since the incident, checks and cash are deposited within 24 hours, and only two people have access to the vault, which will be kept closed, he said.

In the past, the vault was usually opened in the morning and closed at the end of the school day because student records, along with money and checks, are stored in the vault, he said.

Maine State Police Detective Scott Gosselin is the primary investigator in the case. He could not be reached for comment Thursday night.