DECATUR, Ala. — Sgt. Faron White's job running a squad that targeted drug dealers, gamblers and other organized crime in a northern Alabama city earned him accolades but was filled with pressure.

Add a rocky marriage, ill father, unexpected household expenses and gambling losses, and somewhere along the way, the decorated veteran officer snapped, police said Tuesday.

White is accused of staging his disappearance, staking himself with $2,500 in confiscated drug money and flying off to Las Vegas to try to win back thousands of dollars to pay his debts. He didn't act alone, police said.

A Decatur police volunteer _ 29-year-old Sarah Richardson _ is accused of helping White scatter papers from his desk to make it look like he may have struggled with someone before being abducted. Police say they were romantically involved.

Their ruse didn't fool detectives for long, said Decatur Police Chief Ken Collier.

"The investigators involved didn't fall off the pumpkin truck last week. They sensed something was wrong early on," he said.

Federal marshals caught up with White, 48, in a Hampton Inn hotel lobby Monday night, three days after he was last seen working late in his office in Decatur, a Tennessee River city of 55,000 people. Long a respected officer who had been with the department more than 20 years, White is now charged with theft.

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Also arrested was Richardson, who authorities say helped White get to Las Vegas by accompanying him to Nashville, Tenn., to catch a flight. Police believe she was going to join him later and has been charged with with hindering prosecution.

Collier said it appeared White was stealing confiscated drug cash from his office safe and that thousands more may be missing. With his home life in disarray and losses at a casino in Tunica, Miss., White saw no other way out than to try to win back some cash, police say.

"I mean, why else do you go to Las Vegas?" Collier said.

Mayor Don Stanford said he considered White an exceptional officer with a great reputation. Now, he'll be fired, the mayor said.

"This is a sad day for our department here," said Stanford.

White's family reported him missing Saturday morning after he didn't return from work Friday. For days, search crews scoured areas around the Tennessee River, looking for signs of Decatur's 2007 American Legion officer of the year.

His arrest was all the talk at a convenience store down a twisting, two-lane road from White's home in Falkville, south of Decatur.

"I've never heard anything bad about him until this," said Doug Farr.

White's wife, Shelly, declined comment Tuesday. The couple has three children.

Collier said the family had "no idea what had happened. They had been through several stressful days."

Richardson was arrested at her home in Decatur and is being held on $2,500 bond. A police volunteer for a decade, she had been helping White's unit build a database of suspected methamphetamine dealers and labs.

White started with the department in 1986, working in the jail before becoming an officer. He worked his way up to running a unit of four or five members. The Legion noted when it honored him that his unit was responsible for 354 arrests and seizing more than $100,000 worth of cash, weapons and property from drug dealers.

Federal marshals in Las Vegas said White was being held as a fugitive without bail pending an extradition hearing Thursday. A police spokeswoman said it was not immediately clear if White had a lawyer.

Richardson was in the Decatur city jail Tuesday and there was no indication she had a lawyer. Additional charges are possible against both.

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Associated Press writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.