LAWRENCE - A former accounting clerk in the probation department at Lawrence District Court, was secretly indicted this afternoon by an Essex County Grand Jury, charged with stealing $2,037,725.21 from that department's account.

Marie Morey, 38, of 18 Greenfield Street, Lawrence, was arrested by state police on a warrant at about 9 this evening at her home. She will be held overnight at the State Police Barracks in Danvers, and arraigned tomorrow morning in Salem Superior Court. She is charged with larceny of property over $250 and filing/publishing a false written report by a public employee.

Morey had been arrested on September 30 when investigators charged her with larceny over $250 for allegedly stealing $6,350 from the probation department. Bail had been set at that amount by Lawrence District Court First Justice Thomas M. Brennan, who also ordered her to report to probation daily by phone and to surrender her passport.

But investigators suspected that much more than that amount was missing. An exhaustive search by auditors from the Administrative Office of the Trial Court, along with State Police Sgt. Barry Brodette assigned to the Essex District Attorney's Office, determined that Morey had allegedly stolen more than $2 million from the probation department of the Lawrence District Court.

More details will be forthcoming at tomorrow's arraignment.

Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett credited the work of the Trial Court auditors and investigators, and acknowledged the assistance of Judge Brennan and Clerk Magistrate Keith McDonough in working with state police in this matter.

Essex Assistant District Attorney Michael Patten will prosecute the case. Morey is represented by Attorneys John Valerio and Fred McAlary.

If convicted, Morey faces up to five years in state prison on the larceny charge, and one year in the House of Correction on the charge of filing a false report.