Hamburg, Pennsylavania woman sentenced for bank embezzlement

A former Hamburg bank teller has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for stealing $286,000 in a six-year period from a local Wachovia Bank. Tonya Marie Lord, 39, of the 700 block of State Street in Hamburg, was sentenced on March 9 by U.S. District Court Judge Joel H. Slomsky. Along with her prison sentence, Slomsky ordered Lord to pay restitution in the amount of $284,190.87, which she has reportedly already begun to pay back.
After completion of her prison term, Lord will serve five years on supervised release, during which time she may not engage in any employment that would give her access to money either directly, indirectly or through use of a computer. She may not acquire any new debt nor liquidate any assets during her probation without permission of federal probation officials.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy E. Potts. Lord was represented by Reading attorney Allan S. Sodomsky.
The indictment of Lord on charges of embezzlement of funds by a bank employee was originally handed down by a grand jury on Sept. 3, 2009. She pleaded guilty to the indictment on Nov. 19.
According to the sentencing memorandum filed by Potts on Feb. 8, Lord abused her position at Wachovia Bank, 26 South 4th Street in Hamburg, to steal funds.
Potts said that on more than 100 different occasions, Lord “plotted, and then carried out and concealed, her thefts. Her crime was premeditated and took place over a six-year period.”
Potts went on to say that as custodian of the bank’s automated teller account, Lord was the only person trusted by the bank to oversee the operation and to make sure things were functioning correctly.
“Had someone been responsible for checking Ms. Lord’s handling of the AMT account at the Hamburg branch, her embezzlement would not have gone undetected for so long, and she would not have been able to steal as many times as she did,” Potts wrote.
The district attorney’s office alleged Lord used the money to live beyond her means, using the money to buy drugs, automobiles, motorcycles and other luxury items. Lord also used the money to pay on three overdrawn credit accounts.
In asking for a stiff sentence, Potts said bank thefts were an “all-too-often crime” that needed to be deterred. “Ms. Lord made many extremely irresponsible decisions to steal in a misguided effort to continue chasing a life her family could not afford,” the memorandum stated.
Potts said another theft in the tens of thousands of dollars occurred at the same bank in mid-2009, a case that currently remains unsolved.
“Although no one has yet been charged in that case, the sentence in this case will no doubt be the subject of discussion in the Hamburg and Wachovia communities.”
A Wachovia representative at the Hamburg branch refused comment and referred all questions to Wachovia corporate headquarters.
Lord, who has been free on bond, is to begin serving her sentence on April 26.