Former Vassar College Employee & Wife Arrested For Allegedly Embezzling Nearly $2 Million

Arthur H. Fisher, 44, and his wife, Jennifer Fisher, 38, both of Ossining, New York, were arrested and charged in Dutchess County today with embezzling nearly $2 million from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie. According to authorities, Arthur Fisher, who had been employed by the college as project manager from 2005 until 2010, orchestrated a scheme involving a phony construction company he and his wife set up with a fraudulent bank account, into which college funds were deposited. They have both been charged with first-degree grand larceny, presumably because prosecutors believe Jennifer Fisher participated and/or benefited from the scheme to which she had knowledge. Poughkeepsie police executed a search warrant at the Fisher home in Ossining where various luxury items were seized per court order, including four late model BMWs, a Ford F150 truck, three Rolex watches , 10 unregistered handguns, one .223 caliber military style rifle, along with various fraudulent law enforcement badges from the NYPD, FBI, ATF and the DEA, among other items. Details are still sketchy as to the specifics of the alleged embezzlement, however, the seizure of the weapons and false law enforcement identification suggests that there may have also been a concern about threats and potential violence.

Read the story here, here, here and here.

Update (5/21/11): A Dutchess County Grand Jury has handed down formal indictments of both Arthur and Jennifer Fisher. The theft now stands at $2.5 million after accounting for an additional $600,000 stolen through falsified invoices and a second fictitious company called Good Shepherd Construction. Another individual, Christopher DeSanto, 31, of Ossining, New York, allegedly was involved with the Fishers' scheme and has been charged in connection with that part of the theft. The other fake company was known as C&R Construction.

Read an update on the story here.