A former mortgage company executive in Maryland has been accused of stealing $99,000 that should have been deposited at American Home Bank.

East Hempfield Township police said today they have charged Joan Walton, 58, of Dunkirk, Md., with diverting about 75 checks into her own account at a credit union.

The defendant allegedly used the money to make car-lease payments, to fund her own civil lawsuits, to make payments to former co-workers and to pay rent on office space leased by another person, said police.

Walton, who allegedly stole the funds between April 2004 and July 2005, was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge David Brian in Landisville in December.

Walton, who is free on $100,000 bail, in February waived her right to a preliminary hearing. The probe is ongoing, said East Hempfield Township police Det. Tammy Marsh.

"There are numerous other parties being investigated," she said.

East Hempfield police are handling the case because at the time of the alleged crimes, the bank's headquarters were on Estelle Drive in East Hempfield Township. The bank later moved to West Hempfield.

According to Marsh, who has been probing the alleged scheme for a year and a half, Walton was a vice president in the Suitland, Md., office of Ameribanq Mortgage Group.

Ameribanq was formed in 2003 by American Home Bank, Chambersburg-based F&M Trust and R. Daniel Lindley of Oak Hill, Va., owner of Lindley Mortgage Corp.

Walton diverted checks sent to Ameribanq, and intended to be deposited at American Home Bank, into her own account at a credit union that had an office in the same Suitland building, according to Marsh.

They included 31 refund checks to consumers sent by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, reimbursing them for overpayments on new or refinanced HUD mortgages, said Marsh.

None of the consumers is from Lancaster County, she said. American Home Bank has paid the consumers the $39,000 sent to them by HUD, plus interest, said Marsh.

The other $60,000 consisted of dozens of checks to Ameribanq from title companies and mortgage brokers related to mortgage transactions they handled. These too were diverted into Walton's account, said Marsh.

Besides using the money for her car, friends and office space, Walton also wrote checks totaling about $5,000 to three consumers who had written to Ameribanq seeking the HUD refunds they were due, said Marsh.

Another $3,000 was still in Walton's account at the time of her arrest, said Marsh. Ameribanq no longer is in business, she said.

Walton was charged with 31 counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, due to her alleged theft of the HUD checks, and one count of theft by deception, which encompasses the entire alleged scheme.

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