BATON ROUGE — A Southern University employee has been arrested on a felony theft charge after allegedly diverting a student organization's funds into her personal Cash App account, according to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office.

Chianti Primus, 45, of Greenwell Springs, was taken into custody on Tuesday by EBRSO deputies. She faces a charge of felony theft between $1,000 and $5,000.

Primus is currently employed as senior administrative assistant to the chancellor-dean of Southern's Ag Center, according to the university's website.

An arrest warrant affidavit shows university police and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office opened an investigation into the suspected misappropriation of funds belonging to the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center’s MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences) Student Organization.

Primus, who was responsible for maintaining the group's financial records, allegedly made 11 unauthorized Cash App transfers from the organization's account to a recipient listed as "Chi Primus" between Sept. 6, 2024, and Oct. 16, 2024. The transactions totaled $1,791, including six transfers amounting to $946 in September and five transfers totaling $845 in October.

Investigators noted that when Primus' immediate supervisor requested financial records, Primus supplied documents where several entries appeared to have been removed. Updated records obtained directly from Cash App confirmed the missing entries matched payments sent to Primus' personal account.

According to officials, Primus sent an email on Sept. 3, 2026, acknowledging the allegations and expressing a willingness to discuss reimbursement, though she did not directly admit to misappropriating the funds.