The former City of Homewood finance director was arrested Tuesday morning on a felony charge.

Robert Burgett, 63, is charged with aggravated theft by deception, which is a Class A felony, according to announcements Tuesday by Homewood Police and the City of Homewood.

Burgett worked for the city for 13 years prior to his retirement on March 31.

He was taken into custody about 10 a.m. Tuesday in Helena and booked into the Homewood City Jail. He will be transferred to the Jefferson County Jail with bond set at $500,000.

Police said the investigation began April 3 when they were made aware of irregularities in the movement of city funds by Burgett in the days leading up to his retirement. No additional details were released, including the dollar amount of money in question.

Homewood police were assisted in the probe by the FBI and Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.

“Allegations of the misuse of city funds are always disturbing,’’ said Homewood Mayor Patrick McClusky. “When suspicious transactions were noticed, we quickly and appropriately notified authorities of what we found and took appropriate stops to freeze any questionable disbursements.”

“We will closely examine how the misappropriations occurred,’’ said Homewood City Council President Alex Wyatt. “We are making every effort to recover the funds that were part of any fraud that was committed.”

This story will be updated if more information becomes available.