Disagreement delays sentencing for former Hometown Bank loan officer accused of embezzlement

Before Vicky L. Young can be sentenced for embezzling thousands of dollars from Hometown Bank of Corbin while she was employed there, U.S. District Court Judge Amul Thapar said he wants to know exactly how much money was taken and how much restitution Young must pay.

At Young’s sentencing hearing Monday in U.S. District Court in London, Thapar ordered U.S. attorneys, bank officials, the bank’s insurance company and probation officers to sit down with Young, her attorney, Paul Croley, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Wier to determine exactly how much money was taken.

“I think that would be a good starting point,” Croley said of the meeting, noting he would only stipulate that the amount was in excess of $1,000 as documents filed when she pleaded guilty in March 2009 stated.

Sonya Grove, operations officer at Hometown Bank of Corbin, was the person charged with pouring through the bank records to determine how much money was missing when it was discovered that Young had been embezzling the money while working as a Secondary Market Mortgage Officer between 2005 and 2007.

However, after beginning the task, Grove said she quickly realized it was beyond her, leading bank officials to call in an accounting firm to audit the bank’s books and determine how much money was missing and how it was hidden. Grove said the audit showed Young took $243,000 by overstating loan amounts, pocketing the difference.

Grove testified that she had six paper boxes of records and a 10,000-line Excel spreadsheet from the audit explaining how much money was missing and how Young kept it hidden.

Thapar agreed that Croley should have access to the records before conducting his cross- examination, arranging for the records to be transported from the bank to the U.S. Attorney’s office by FBI agents for Croley to examine.

Thapar scheduled a status conference on the meeting with Judge Wier to be held in four weeks. An additional status conference concerning Croley’s examination of the bank records will be held in six weeks, after which a new sentencing date may be set.

Thapar noted the amount of money taken is essential to calculate the range of prison time Young will face.

Young faces a potential sentenced of up to 30 years in prison, up to a $1 million fine and five years of supervised release. In addition, the court may order her to pay resitution.

“This thing has languished for a while,” Thapar said. “I would like to see this defendant sentenced.”