The payroll director for the Massachusetts State Police has been on unpaid leave for over five months amid an investigation into allegations that she stole money from the department.

Denise Ezekiel, the civilian head of the agency's payroll department, was placed on leave on Nov. 1, according to a list of suspensions obtained by MassLive in a public records request.

State police spokesman David Procopio confirmed the existence of the investigation and said prosecutors will now decide whether to bring criminal charges.

"We conducted an investigation into theft of funds," Procopio wrote in an email. "We have turned the results of our investigation over to the Middlesex DA's office for potential criminal prosecution."

MassLive has reached out to the Middlesex DA's office for comment.

Ezekiel is on indefinite leave and the agency could take further disciplinary action once the criminal investigation is resolved, Procopio wrote.

Calls to a number listed for Ezekiel were not answered and she did not return a request for comment sent to her Facebook account.

Ezekiel had an annual salary of $95,031 last year but was only paid a total of $80,980, according to state payroll records, reflecting the two months she spent on unpaid leave in 2017.

The investigation into Ezekiel's conduct is the third state police payroll controversy to come to light in recent months.

An internal audit, sparked by an internal investigation into overtime shifts taken by Trooper Eric Chin and reporting by WCVB, found that troopers assigned to patrol the Massachusetts Turnpike had raked in overtime dollars for no-show shifts.

At least 30 state police officers from Troop E, ranging in rank from Trooper to Lieutenant, have been implicated in the scheme, which allegedly allowed some troopers to pad their take-home pay to over $300,000. Some troopers were paid for as many as 100 shifts they did not work, state police officials have said.

The allegations, and the highly public uproar that followed, prompted new State Police leader Kerry Gilpin and Gov. Charlie Baker to promise significant reforms. Earlier this month, Baker announced plans to eliminate Troop E and activate GPS tracking in state police cruisers.

The department has also changed its procedures for paying members of Troop F, which patrols Logan International Airport and the Seaport, following a Boston Globe report that revealed a lack of transparency in its payroll practices.

The salaries of state employees, including police officers, are public record. But for years, payroll data for Troop F -- which was paid directly by MassPort, rather than Massachusetts State Police -- had not been disclosed.

In late March, the state announced that state police would begin paying Troop F directly, with MassPort reimbursing those costs. The troop's payroll information was released publicly last week and quickly led to additional headaches for the agency, following a Boston Globe report that found troopers have taken millions in per-diem payouts for driving their personal cars to work.