PHILADELPHIA—Joseph M. Braas, 46, of Lititz, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 180 months in prison for his role in a fraud conspiracy that caused the Bank of Lancaster County, which was chartered in 1863 and is one of the five oldest banking organizations in the country, to cease its independent existence. As a result of the fraud, hundreds of jobs were lost. Braas was chief operating officer of Equipment Finance LLC (EFI), when he and his co-defendants—Michael J. Schlager, Mary C. Stankiewicz, Misty L. Kroesen, Curtis A. Kroesen, John Wiley Spann, Harold W. Young, and John S. Tomberlin—engaged in a sophisticated loan fraud scheme that caused losses of approximately $53 million at EFI. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Paul S. Diamond also ordered Braas to pay restitution in the amount of $53 million.