Former Willard mayor Hendrickson gets three years for wire fraud, identity theft

Must self-surrender to authorities by end of September to start sentence
A former Willard mayor and alderman was sentenced to three years without parole in federal prison on Monday, Aug. 26, at the U.S. District Court in Springfield. Corey Hendrickson received the sentence almost a year after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Springfield, Hendrickson, who worked at Prime Inc. as a fleet manager, used “personal identity information” to steal almost $300,000 from over 500 truckers at his place of employment.
“Hendrickson worked as a fleet dispatcher for Prime, Incorporated, a freight transportation and logistics trucking company that is headquartered in Springfield,” the press release stated. “Prime contracted with ComData to serve as a payment processor and issuer of fleet fuel cards, and to maintain the financial accounts of Prime drivers that were used to pay for fuel costs as needed by the truck drivers. Prime put funds into each driver’s ComData account, which was then utilized for driving expenses such as fuel. ComData cards were used by the drivers like a bank card. Hendrickson used his computer access to steal the identity information of drivers and withdraw nearly $300,000 from the accounts intended to pay for the fuel costs for drivers employed by Prime. He transferred the stolen funds into his personal bank accounts.”
The amounts Hendrickson stole from the individual truckers ranged between less than $100 to almost $6,500.

Hendrickson currently remains free on a personal recognizance bond. At his sentencing, he was designated to the minimum-security Yankton Federal Prison Camp in South Dakota and ordered to “self-surrender” to the institution by Monday, Sept. 30. He was also ordered to pay $318,041.21 in restitution.
After Hendrickson completes his sentence, he will remain on supervised release for two years.
Hendrickson pleaded guilty to the charges against him on Oct. 24, 2023 and resigned his position as Willard alderman the same day.