A guard at the Alexander Juvenile Detention Center was arrested Wednesday for more than 60 larceny charges that span six months.

Robert Eldridge Parsons III, 47, of Lenoir was charged with 64 counts of felony larceny by employee. Parsons used a credit card issued to the state to put gas in his own vehicle, said Detective Lisa Johnson with the Taylorsville Police Department.

Parsons has worked at the detention center on NC 16 south for six years. He was fired on Feb. 16 after he was interviewed by police, Johnson said.

Parsons was giving the detention center’s credit card to attend a state education training class in June 2011, she said. Unauthorized charges began in July and continued until the card was canceled on Feb. 1.

The credit card was discovered missing after another employee needed to use the credit card and the director was unable to find it.

“They tried to find it several times,” Johnson said.

The mounting charges didn’t raise a red flag with the staff at the Alexander Juvenile Detention Center because the credit card bill didn’t go straight to someone at the facility it went to Raleigh, she said. The director requested a new credit card in December. The card was not canceled until the new one arrived.

It was determined Parsons had the missing credit card after tracing who the last person was to have it, Johnson said. She then watched surveillance footage of the detention center from the last legitimate purchase date, beginning in July.

“He drove straight from work to the gas station across the street to make a purchase,” Johnson said.

She said that was not the only place he used the credit card. Johnson declined to say how much was charged to the credit card over six months, or what the minimum and maximum single purchase amounts were. Officers were unable to determine if the credit card was used after it was canceled.

Parsons has worked with the state for 17 years. He previously worked as a prison guard, Johnson said.

He was given a $1,000 secured bond. His first court date is Feb. 27.