A student who had served time in prison for armed robbery is being placed on leave after the university told CNN it was investigating an allegation that she used her job at a pet store to collect payments for her two adult children from a pet dealer.
Natalie Nesbitt, a 17-year-old freshman from Montgomery, Alabama, told CNN affiliate WYFF she met the dealer after she started her job as a pet shop employee and took him to his house for a pet grooming session.
She said the dealer and Nesby, who was his wife, had been friends for about two years.
According to the news outlet, Nesbinits family filed a complaint with the University of Alabama at Birmingham on May 20, 2018, accusing her of illegally collecting the payments for the two children, ages 13 and 14, from her pet dealer, Joe F. Johnson, on behalf of her husband.
She has pleaded not guilty.
The dealership has denied any wrongdoing.
Nesby is now on leave and will not be able to return to the job she’s been hired to do, said Clemson University spokesman David Brown.
The university is now in the process of determining what further steps it can take, Brown said.
Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.