Prosecutors have charged a former Bellevue emergency dispatcher with first-degree theft for allegedly stealing $80,000 from the Bellevue Police Benevolent Association.

Pamela Rae Heide is scheduled to appear before a judge Feb. 11.

Prosecutors say Heide, the former treasurer of the association, first confessed to the group’s new president, Bellevue Police spokeswoman Carla Iafrate, that she had stolen money and repaid it in full.

Bellevue detectives arrested Heide on Aug. 26. She told investigators she had fallen behind on paying her bills and accumulated significant debt, in part because of gambling.

Heide also said she had been worried about losing her job as assistant director of the Eastside Communications Center, because the position was slated for termination.

Heide told investigators she used 70 percent of the stolen money at casinos, and the other 30 percent on bills, charging papers said. There was only $1.38 remaining in the fund at one point, according to charging papers.

A review of the association’s accounts revealed that Heide did pay back the funds she embezzled.