Former Etowah County Coroner Michael Gladden was arrested Tuesday and charged with a felony count of First Degree Theft along with twelve misdemeanor counts of Failing to File a Required Report; he stands accused of taking $40, 207.38 in deceptive payments from the Etowah County Commission.

While acting as County Coroner he reportedly submitted falsified mileage information and received the money in exchange for duties he didn’t actually perform.

Gladden is also accused of knowingly failing to file the required monthly report of deaths in the county dating back to January of last year (2014); those reports should have been filed with the Department of Public Health.

Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin says that an investigation was launched after several family members of the deceased questioned the length of time that it was taking to receive toxicology report results. The results of that investigation led to Gladden’s arrest – and the investigation is on-going.

Gladden was booked into the Etowah County Detention Center and later released on $6,200 bond.