NC Resident Pleads Guilty to Stealing $240K from Charity, Gambling

A 43-year-old man from Grantham, New Hampshire who currently resides in Holly Springs, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $240,000 from a charity where he was employed as an executive director. The case involves Kyle Fisher, who was officially charged on May 10, 2023. On Tuesday this week, US Attorney Jane E. Young confirmed the 43-year-old man pleaded guilty in federal court in Concord to embezzling the hefty sum.

Between August 2016 and October 2022, Fisher served as an executive director at the Upper Valley charity that provides services for vulnerable groups, LISTEN Community Services. While he was employed by LISTEN, he abused his power which ultimately led to losses of nearly $240,000 for the charity. The money Fisher embezzled was subsequently spent for personal expenditures, including casino gambling in Massachusetts.

Examples listed by the US Attorney’s Office District of New Hampshire included a withdrawal transaction completed by Fisher dating back to January 24, 2022. At the time, he accessed the charity’s PayPal account and transferred $4,787 into his personal account. On the same day, the former executive director withdrew funds from his account via ATMs and this included transactions made from casino locations. For two days until January 25, 2022, Fisher gambled away a total of $6,719, reveals the US Attorney’s Office.

Sentencing Scheduled for June

Besides LISTEN’s PayPal account, the 43-year-old had access to the charity’s bank accounts. This authority was granted to him with the role of executive director. Besides transferring funds from the charity’s PayPal account, Fisher transferred money from the charity’s bank accounts to personal accounts.

The former executive wrote a total of eight checks payable to himself. None of those checks were authorized by the charity. Besides embezzlement, Fisher attempted to conceal the fraudulent transactions. The US Attorney’s Office revealed that the former LISTEN executive produced untrue statements for sums of over $94,000 to Dell. He also created untrue invoices for the charity as well.

The charges the former executive is facing are punishable with imprisonment of no more than 20 years followed by supervised release for three years, as well as a fine of $250,000 or “gross gain or loss, whichever is greater,” reveals the US Attorney’s Office. Fisher’s sentencing by US District Court Judge Paul J. Barbadoro is planned for June 11, 2024.