CFO Sentenced To Prison For $500K Unauthorized Purchases On HoCo Company Credit Cards

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — A 52-year-old Severn man formerly employed by a Howard County business has been sentenced to 18 years in prison suspend all but eight years with five years probation for a charge of theft scheme over $100,000.

Thomas Dehner pleaded guilty to the charge in October 2022. In November 2017, Dehner began working for a local company as controller then was promoted to chief financial officer. He had performance issues and in September 2020, submitted his resignation instead of being fired. A senior accountant who worked under Dehner analyzed his company credit card use after he left the company and found numerous non-business-related purchases.

That prompted the company to conduct a forensic audit of all of Dehner's expenses, which revealed approximately $514,542 in unauthorized credit card purchases on the company credit cards, approximately $15,000 in unauthorized wire transfers from the company’s bank account and approximately $7,731.70 in unauthorized check card purchases/ATM withdrawals from the company’s bank account.

Some of Dehner’s unauthorized expenses included numerous vacations for himself and his family, golf equipment and golf trips, dental costs, various professional sports tickets, landscaping and an engagement ring for his wife. Dehner withdrew more than $100,000 in cash advances through the company credit cards. The total amount of unauthorized credit card/check card charges, ATM withdrawals and wire transfers made by Dehner between November 2017 and September 2020 totaled $537, 273.60.

In September 2022, Dehner was convicted and sentenced for willfully filing a false state tax return in Maryland on Feb. 17, 2021. The false state tax return did not include the stolen money. He was sentenced to one year in prison.