SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A Westerly woman was arrested last week on charges of embezzling more than $95,000 from her previous employer.

The woman, Alethea J. Reynolds, 32, of 55 Beach St., Apt. 4, Westerly, was arrested last Thursday and charged with embezzling $95,337.30 from Universal Firearms Ltd., 265 Main St., Wakefield, over a period of a little more than a year.

Reynolds, who had been working as bookkeeper at Universal Firearms for about two years, remains out on bail. She is due in court on Dec. 26. A court order prevents Reynolds from taking her two young children out of the state.

The Westerly woman also faces a misdemeanor charge in Westerly for writing fraudulent checks for less than $1,000. A pretrial conference on that charge has been scheduled for Friday.

Universal Firearms Ltd. representatives confronted Reynolds about the missing money in June, following an internal audit, and tried to negotiate restitution, said South Kingstown Detective Jason C. Wheatley, who investigated the case.

The embezzlement allegedly started in March 2005.

Since then, Wheatley said, “Some red flags had gone up as far as the profits, so the owner conducted his personal audit of the company.”

On Nov. 13, Henry “Hank” Almonte, the store owner, filed a complaint with the South Kingstown police and provided police with bookkeeping records.

Wheatley declined to comment on how Reynolds allegedly embezzled the money.

He said Reynolds has not repaid any of the money.

Wheatley obtained an arrest warrant for Reynolds on Nov. 16 based on information provided by her estranged husband. The South Kingstown and Charlestown police arrested Reynolds that evening after she dropped off her children at her parents-in-law’s house in Charlestown.

She could face up to $50,000 in fines or three times the value of the money embezzled and up to 20 years in prison.

— MARIA ARMENTAL