COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) -- The arrest last week of its Foundation's former accountant has Mississippi University for Women trying to figure out how the woman slipped through its hiring safeguards.

Jeannie Godbey, 46, of Starkville, was charged with embezzlement after investigators say she stole more than $25,000 from the MUW Foundation, where she worked for almost three years before being fire in April when the possible thefts were discovered.

MUW attorney Perry Sansing says the university does background checks on potential employees but apparently failed to find that Godbey has two prior embezzlement convictions from when she worked at companies in the Jackson area.

Godbey previously has served some jail time on those convictions.