An Andalusia businessmen who was one of three locals indicted as part of a $53 million loan fraud scheme was sentenced yesterday to 45 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.87 million in restitution.

John S. Tomberlin, who plead guilty in 2011 to four counts of wrongdoing – committing conspiracy, mail fraud affecting a financial institution, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering, for his part in the Equipment Finance LLC scheme, stood before U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond in Philadelphia.

Court records show that from 2001 through 2007, the defendants orchestrated a scheme to steal money by looting the accounts of EFI and falsifying the company’s books.

Tomberlin has been in prison since November of 2011, when his bond was revoked. He received time served, The Lancaster Online reported.

Additionally, he was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $500 special assessment.

Tomberlin’s sentencing was postponed seven times for undisclosed reasons. Documents about the postponements are sealed and not available to the public.

Wiley Spann and Harold Young were also indicted as part of the scheme.

Spann participated in the fraud scheme in a number of ways, including assisting the employees of EFI to create numerous bogus loans, forging EFI loan documents and auditor confirmation letters, and paying nominal borrowers to sign false EFI loan documents. For helping to manage the EFI loan fraud, Spann illegally compensated himself with between $80,000 and $100,000 per year in EFI funds. Tomberlin signed a bogus EFI loan contract in exchange for a payment from Spann of $10,000.

Young and Tomberlin also assisted Spann in looting EFI’s insurance escrow account. Although no EFI borrower had purchased insurance from their company, South Central Agency, Young and Tomberlin permitted Spann to create bogus SCA insurance invoices and send them to EFI. EFI then mailed checks to SCA, which were deposited into SCA’s accounts. In total, more than $1 million was sent from EFI to SCA for these nonexistent policies.

For allowing Spann to use their invoices and accounts, Young and Tomberlin charged Spann 20 percent of the EFI money that flowed through their accounts.

Young disbursed the rest of the stolen money at Spann’s direction.

Young has not yet been sentenced and his hearing has been postponed numerous times, including three times this year.

It has been rescheduled for Nov. 10, at 11 a.m.

Spann was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay $7.6 million in restitution.