Federal prosecutors say that a former St. Louis police officer used a law enforcement database to find out whether secret arrest warrants had been issued against her friends.

Marla A. Arinze, 42, of St. Louis, was indicted on fraud charges last week but the indictment was sealed until her arrest by FBI agents Monday.

Federal prosecutors said that on Nov. 28, 2006, Arinze, who was on the force at the time, was running names through the Regional Justice Information Service database to find out whether her friends had outstanding arrest warrants for immigration violations.

Those warrants are not public and would not be visible without special access.

The department declined to name Arinze's friends, referring questions to the U.S. attorney's office, which also declined to comment.

A police statement said that the department began an Internal Affairs investigation after being notified about the allegations by the FBI and that it cooperated with the federal investigation. Arinze resigned while under investigation and is not eligible to be rehired, the statement said.

Arinze graduated from the Police Academy in 1993 and worked in homicide and the city's 3rd, 4th and 9th districts.

She appeared in federal court Monday afternoon in St. Louis, shackled at the ankles. Arinze said that she had contacted a lawyer. That lawyer could not be reached for comment Monday.

She also said that the FBI had seized a firearm from her house.

Arinze now faces one felony count of unauthorized access to a protected computer and one felony count of mail fraud. If convicted, she could face fines and years in prison.

In 2006, a former St. Louis officer was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for using REJIS to help the boss of a heroin ring identify possible informers.