Rhonda Rochelle Canidate, a 48-year-old woman from Greensboro, North Carolina, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges related to embezzling funds from her former employer, Henry Molded Products Company in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Canidate, who was employed as an accounting specialist at the company, admitted to entering false payment entries for former employees into the company's third-party payroll software. This caused 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. The fraudulent scheme, which took place between October 2021 and June 2022, resulted in a loss of $532,050 for the company.
Canidate has agreed to follow a court-ordered restitution schedule. The fraud not only financially injured Henry Molded but also the former employees by creating an overpayment for tax purposes. The maximum combined penalty under federal law for these offenses is 30 years in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. The sentence will be imposed by the Judge after consideration of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and other applicable sentencing statutes. ABC27 reported.