LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. — A North Carolina woman has pleaded guilty to defrauding a Lebanon County business of half a million dollars.
Ronda Canidate, 48, of Greensboro, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner to a two-count criminal information charging her with wire fraud and money laundering, in connection with a scheme to embezzle funds from her employer between 2021 and 2022.
According to U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam, between March 2021 and July 2022, Canidate was employed as an accounting specialist at Henry Molded Products Company ("Henry Molded") in Lebanon.
Between October 2021 and June 2022, Canidate reportedly entered false payment entries for former Henry Molded employees into Henry Molded's third-party payroll software, causing the software to issue direct deposit payments from Henry Molded's bank account to bank accounts controlled by Canidate in the name of the former employees.
Canidate's fraud not only financially injured Henry Molded, but it also harmed the former employees by creating an overpayment for tax purposes.
Canidate caused a loss of $532,050 and has agreed to pay restitution per a schedule to be determined.
The maximum combined penalty under federal law for these offenses is 30 years in prison, a term of supervised release and a fine.
