BANGOR (AP) – A former bank manager accused of stealing more than $500,000 from the accounts of senior citizens and spending the money on her home, trips, jewelry, motorcycles and a Toyota is going to prison for nearly five years.

Wendy Dunlea, who was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court, will report to federal prison on June 13 to begin serving a 53-month sentence. She also was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay $579,000 in restitution.

Her dozen victims between 79 and 91 years old included her mother and father and the parents of a Maine District Court judge, prosecutors said.

Dunlea, 34, of Carmel, spent more than $220,000 of the money on an addition to her home, including furniture and appliances, as well as $15,000 in down payments on two Harley-Davidson motorcycles and a Toyota, and $3,400 for earrings, according to court documents.

She also spent $17,500 on trips to Las Vegas, Key West, Aruba and on a Carnival Cruise, and nearly $5,000 for a television, $2,500 for a pool table, and $1,700 for a framed shirt that belonged to former Boston Bruins player Cam Neely, the document said.

Her attorney, Wayne Foote of Bangor, said Thursday that Dunlea embezzled the money “to buy love from her husband.” She’s now divorced.

Dunlea, who was served as a branch manager between January 1999 and July 2005, pleaded guilty to the charges in December.

As a bank manager, Dunlea had access to customer account information and the authority to process deposits and withdrawals, loan applications and a wide variety of transactions, according to federal prosecutors.

The embezzlement was uncovered when a bank customer attempted to withdraw funds from a certificate of deposit she held at the bank.

The woman was told the CD was being held as collateral for a loan, but the woman had not taken out a loan, according to court documents.

AP-ES-05-11-07 0930EDT

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