LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — A woman who has been dubbed online as a “serial wedding crasher” admitted on Thursday to stealing from two north Alabama couples at their weddings in 2019.
Sandra Henson reported to Judge Ben Graves’ courtroom early for her plea hearing on Thursday.
Henson was facing one count of third-degree Theft of Property and one count of fourth-degree Theft of Property for two incidents that both occurred on June 8, 2019 in Lauderdale County. She had been accused of stealing cash and gift cards from two wedding receptions, at weddings she was not invited to.
Thursday, she accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to both charges.
Things got interesting when it came time for Judge Graves to sentence Henson.
Judge Graves allowed one of Henson’s victims, Anna Perez Todd present a victim impact statement. In her statement, Todd accused Henson of targeting her wedding by finding information about the venue from her wedding website.
Todd accused Henson of meticulously planning a route in order to steal from her and other brides on the same day. Todd said Henson is a serial wedding crasher, and in preparing for the hearing had compiled a “spreadsheet of at least 12 weddings” that Henson had stolen from.
To make matters worse, Todd said that the money Henson stole from her wedding had been money they planned to donate to find a cure for FOXG1 Syndrome, which is a rare genetic disorder. Todd said her daughter, who has FOXG1 Syndrome was sitting in a wheelchair nearby when Henson stole the envelopes containing the money.
Todd ended her victim impact statement by saying “for this, I will never forgive you” directed at Henson.
The second victim, another bride, was unable to attend the hearing. However, the Lauderdale District Attorney’s Office said that bride, along with Todd, both asked the judge to give Henson the harshest sentence possible.
After hearing the victim impact statement, Judge Graves thanked Todd for speaking, saying it was a “very impactful impact statement.”
Henson’s attorney argued that Henson should not be sentenced to prison due to medical conditions. The attorney said in addition to having had three heart attacks, Henson suffered a stroke while serving time in a Mississippi prison for another case, and has failing kidneys. The attorney said Henson is currently in dialysis treatment three times a week. They argued that all of that medical care would cost the State of Alabama too much to make it worthwhile.
Henson gave her own, tearful, statement.
“I am so sorry,” she said. “I know you don’t believe me, but I’m sorry,”
Judge Graves said while Henson did have medical conditions, that they didn’t impact her committing the crimes that took a “high degree of planning.”
Judge Graves sentenced Henson to 31 months with the Alabama Department of Corrections, to pay restitution and court fines. However, Henson will not have to serve the majority of that time in prison.
Judge Graves did order Henson to spend two weekends, for a full 48 hours, in jail. “One for each wedding you crashed,” he said.
Neither Henson or her attorney were available for comment after the hearing concluded.
However, NewsNation affiliate WHNT did speak with Anna Perez Todd, one of the brides.
Todd said she thought it was important to make a statement in court. She said she didn’t think Henson would listen to what she had to say, “but I knew the Judge would listen.”
She told WHNT that she doesn’t think her wedding was the first, or the last, that Henson crashed.
“This was not isolated incident, this was not one moment of temptation,” Todd said. “This has been a methodical, thought out process where she has gone for years in multiple states and stolen from families.”
She said Henson’s crime put a dark cloud over her whole wedding day and ruined her and her husband’s plans to donate money to find a cure for their daughter’s genetic disorder.
“We had asked for donations to be made for the foundations that are researching a cure for FOXG1 Syndrome, because our daughter has a very rare genetic disorder,” Todd said. “She is only one of about 1,000 people in the world with the disorder that we know of and we had wanted donations to be made in her honor, for our big day and that is what was stolen.”
Todd said she is pleased that Henson has to pay restitution. She said her message to Henson is, “don’t mess with brides, don’t mess with mommas and don’t mess with FOXG1 mommas.”
While Henson’s case is now resolved in Alabama, it is hardly her only trouble with the law.
Henson, a resident of Mississippi, was arrested by the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Department in September of 2023, after being arrested at a wedding there. The Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Department said Henson was charged with “petit larceny, trespassing and disturbing the peace”.
Todd said she wasn’t surprised to hear of this, and that bride and groom from that wedding actually reached out to her after the incident.
Todd said Henson has hit so many weddings that Todd has a “Facebook group chat” with other victims. She also told WHNT that when Henson was arrested in Mississippi, she was found with a notebook containing details of other weddings, it was assumed, she was planning to hit.
Todd said her message for any future bride is to be careful about what you post on your wedding website.
“You would think it is safe to put it out there, but there are people who can find it with a quick search,” Todd said. S
he recommended keeping any information about the date, time, dress code and guest list for your event under password protection.
“Hopefully Sandra Henson and criminals like her will have a harder time committing these crimes,” she said.
Todd said she is glad to have a resolution in this case, and hopes it can spread the word about FOXG1 Syndrome.