The former executive director of a New Hampshire charity that helps people pay for their electricity, food, heating and rent allegedly stole more than $230,000 from the nonprofit and used much of it to pay his gambling expenses instead.
Kyle Fisher, 42, now faces four federal counts of wire fraud in connection with the alleged theft following an FBI investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count. His arraignment is scheduled to occur Wednesday before federal Magistrate Judge Andrea K. Johnstone.
Fisher, who oversaw a Lebanon, New Hampshire organization called LISTEN Community Services for six years, allegedly committed the theft during a 19-month period between February 2021 and September 2022 when he had direct access to the charity’s PayPal and bank accounts and its QuickBooks accounting software.
The indictment alleges he used his position to write fraudulent checks to himself and to transfer money from the charity’s PayPal account to his personal bank account, much of which he allegedly gambled away at the MGM casino in Springfield, Massachusetts. He allegedly then tried to cover up the transfers by creating fake invoices and receipts and altering the nonprofit’s accounting records until being placed on administrative leave in September 2022 and terminated soon after. Since then, he’s been living in North Carolina.
Fisher, who became executive director in August 2016, earned more than $129,000 for the year according to the charity’s most recently available federal Form 990 tax reports.
Charity officials said in a statement to The NonProfit Times that they were “saddened” by the indictment and turn of events leading up to it, which followed from an internal investigation into “unusual financial activities” that they later reported to authorities. “While we process our disappointment and sadness over this betrayal of trust, we are also incredibly grateful to the authorities that we’ve been working with collaboratively over the past several months,” said the leaders.
This apparently is not the first time Fisher has been charged with embezzling money. He previously oversaw budget and accounting operations at the University of Michigan before allegedly being charged with embezzling between $200 and $1,000 and ultimately pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of embezzling less than $200 there in 2012, according to published reports. He later moved to New Hampshire and began volunteering at LISTEN in 2013.
Charity officials said in their statement that the “loss of funds did not undermine LISTEN’s financial condition or operations” and that they’ve begun taking steps to recoup the money. The charity’s most recently available tax records show total revenue of $5.5 million and total expenses of $4.6 million for the year, with net remaining assets of $5.1 million. The charity’s board has since appointed a new executive director, who began in March.
