Charges of theft against a former Loyola student have been dropped, after she paid more than $3,000 in restitution to the university.

Charges were filed against Marie d’Auria Groux-Holt in early 2009 after $3,252.89 of unauthorized purchases was made on a Loyola Pan-Hellenic Council credit card.

The theft charges stem from when Groux-Holt, a former mass communication student scheduled to graduate in May 2009, served as vice president for recruitment in Loyola’s Pan-Hellenic Council chapter. She was placed in control of purchases for the club because the club had no acting finance officer.

“The defendant paid full restitution and the victim (Loyola University of New Orleans) indicated that they were no longer interested in pursuing charges after receiving restitution,” said Chris Bowman, spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

Charges against Groux-Holt were dropped April 30 of this year.

This came two months after a missed court appearance forced Groux-Holt to forfeit her bond, but within that time Groux-Holt reimbursed Loyola for the credit card charges.

According to Groux-Holt, she missed the court date because she was out of town and there was a miscommunication between her attorney and the judge.

Judge Camille Buras pardoned the missed court date, according to Groux-Holt.

Both Groux-Holt and her attorney, Jeff Burg, declined to comment as to the nature of the deal with the district attorney’s office.

“The situation has been resolved to our satisfaction,” said Meredith Hartley, spokeswoman for Loyola.

Groux-Holt has never denied making the purchases but has expressed regret over this incident.

Groux-Holt asked that readers look to the Jan. 14, 2011 issue of The Maroon for a letter to the editor for her commentary on this story.

Jean Paul Arguello can be reached at [email protected]