Former Hebron Savings Bank employee sentenced for embezzlement

former vice president of Hebron Savings Bank in Wicomico County was sentenced to 18 months in prison for embezzlement and ordered to pay $456,665 in restitution, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Wanda Henderson, 56, of Westover had used her position at the bank, including her role as executive assistant to president, to manipulate bank records and receive fraudulent loans over a period from 2005 until April 2011, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. Over that time, Henderson had secured 20 fraudulent loans for herself and family members worth more than $680,000, with most of that ending in default, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, Henderson created fraudulent loan applications, then got them approved by forging the signatures of the president and other bank officials. She also forged the initials of other employees so the money could be transferred into checking accounts owned by her and a family member, prosecutors said.

Henderson hid the theft by changing bank records and taking out new loans to repay older loans when they came due, prosecutors said.

Henderson could not be reached for comment.

Hebron Savings Bank, founded in 1910, had assets of $500,085 at the end of December, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Bank officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.