Authorites in Alabama have arrested a veternariy student suspected of selling nearly 50 horses to meat-processing plants in Mexico.

Deputies with the Blount County Sheriff's Office apprehended 24-year-old Fallon Blackwood at a local rodeo Saturday, four months after a grand jury returned a 13-count indictment charging the woman with bringing into the state property obtained by false pretense with the intent to defraud.

Blackwoofd, a senior majoring in veterinary medicine at Tuskegee University, is accused of offering owners to re-home older and ailing horses, and instead selling them to slaughterhouses in Mexico for meat.

Fallon Blackwood, 24, a senior studying veterinary medicine at Tuskegee University, is suspected of selling dozens of horses, most of them old or sick, to Mexican slaughterhouses

One of Blackwood's four-legged victims is believed to be a 15-year-old appendix gelding named Willie, who was handed over to the vet student in January 2018, never to be seen again

Willie's long-time owner was told by Blackwood that the ailing horse would be a pasture mate for her own racing horse

The indictment lists 13 animals, but Lindsay Rosentrater, who turned over her beloved horse, Willie, to Blackwood in January 20018, said that nearly 50 missing horses have been linked to the veterinary student.

Blackwood was also arrested in early April on an outstanding warrant from North Carolina, where she was accused of tricking a man into giving her two horses, reported Fox 5 Atlanta.

According to multiple accounts posted on a Facebook page created by Rosentrater called Finding Willie, Blackwood would answer ads placed by people throughout the South seeking to sell their horses, saying that while she could not afford to buy the animals, she would be willing to house them on her 18-acre farm and care for them.

In many of the cases, including Rosentrater's, Blackwood claimed she was looking for a retired horse to be a pasture companion for her racing horse.

The owners' reasons for deciding to part with their geldings and mares varied, but most boiled down to financial difficulties, or failing health that prevented them from caring for their animals.

Owners of missing horses in six states across the South have been sharing their stories online

Duped owners said they were reassured by Blackwood's background as a veterinary student.

None of the horses have been recovered and Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey said she does not believe any of the missing animals are alive.

Rosentrater explained to Al.com that in January of last year, she and her husband were expecting a baby and she did not have the time and resources to properly care for her 15-year-old appendix gelding, Willie, which had health problems and could no longer be ridden.

Blackwood was arrested in April on an outstanding warrant in North Carolina where she was accused of tricking a man into giving her two horses

Rosentrater, who has owned the horse from the time she was 17 years old, posted an ad seeking a loving home for Willie, and said that within 24 hours Blackwood contacted her offering to take him off her hands.

‘She said she was very interested, was a vet student and had a barrel [racing] horse that needed a companion,’’ Rosentrater said. ‘It seemed too good to be true.’

Rosentrater said Blackwood travelled to her home in Georgia on January 28 for what was supposed to be an introductory meeting, but the vet student arrived with a horse trailer ready to take Willie with her.

Rosentrater, who has a degree in equestrian studies, agreed to hand over Willie to Blackwood that day on the condition that if the arrangement did not work out for any reason, she would take him back. She never saw her horse again.

Rosentrater said she grew suspicious when Blackwood would not respond to her messages and repeated requests seeking current photos of Willie.

Blackwood told the same story again and again: she she had a large farm and was seeking a pasture mate for her racing horse

She later learned that Blackwood had alleged ties to people buying horses for meat, which prompted her to launch her Facebook group. Almost overnight, the page was inundated with responses from other concerned horses owners who had similar dealings with the vet student.

Rosentrater said that the non-profit organization Stolen Horses International, which operates the website NetPosse.com, so far has identified 47 missing horses belonging to more than 40 owners in six states linked to Blackwood.

Many owners said when they would reach out to Blackwood asking for information about their animals, she either would not respond, or tell them the horse had suffered an accident and died.

In one case, she claimed a horse was struck and killed by lightening. In another, she allegedly told an owner the horse had to be euthanized due to an illness.

Blackwood was released from the Blount County Jail after posting $15,000 bail and returned to her veterinary school, where she is expected to graduate in May.

A representative of the university on Wednesday declined to comment on Blackwood's status or the allegations against her, citing federal privacy laws.