Peggy Arutunian, 71, of Stuttsdale Place, Mathews, was arrested on Monday by the Mathews County Sheriff’s Office after having been indicted last Tuesday on 16 counts of embezzlement related to the alleged theft of more than $40,000 from Animal Care Society of Mathews.

She was taken before the magistrate and released on a $10,000 unsecured bond. No trial date has been set, but she is scheduled to appear before the court on Feb. 8 to determine appointment of counsel.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Bowen said that the 16 felony indictments issued by the Mathews Circuit Court grand jury on Jan. 17 do not include every time the defendant allegedly took money from the organization. Instead, one charge was filed for each month of the past 16 months, during which, he said, there were multiple cases of theft each month.

Bowen said that Arutunian, who was Animal Care’s treasurer, has admitted to using the organization’s debit card for a wide variety of personal expenses, ...