[5/28/04]The former secretary to two Vicksburg police chiefs pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling $3,562 in city funds.

Brenda Kenney, 40, 5362 Halls Ferry Road, will be sentenced next month and faces up to 10 years in prison. She admitted in court to taking money by falsifying officers’ travel expense reports during her employment at the police department between 2001 and 2002.

Kenney made no comments to the court, but also admitted being convicted in 1986 of embezzling $900 from Musicland in the former Battlefield Village mall between 1985 and 1986. She was sentenced to two years probation and restitution for that charge.

Kenney was fired from the Vicksburg Police Department after an investigation by Deputy Chief Richard O’Bannon and the State Auditor uncovered discrepancies in the paperwork she handled.

Kenney began working for the city in 1997 as a secretary for North Ward Alderman Gertrude Young. She moved to the police department in 2000 and was employed during parts of the tenures of chiefs Mitchell Dent and Tommy Moffett.