BATON ROUGE - Records show a former member of the Louisiana Tax Commission has been formally charged with malfeasance in office through a bill of information.

In January, LTC Administrator Charles Ables III was booked with malfeasance in office, public payroll fraud and filing or maintaining false public records.

The investigation began in May of last year when Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations-Criminal Investigators Division was contacted by the state auditor's office regarding possible payroll fraud by Abels.

After learning all of the allegations, CID initiated a joint investigation with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's Office. Authorities were able to determine that on multiple occasions Abels was paid for time spent golfing, among other activities. Several times investigators observed Abels utilized a state rental vehicle for personal use and learned that he submitted unauthorized fuel reimbursement requests for the vehicle.

Ables resigned from his position with the LTC a few weeks after his arrest.