John C. Richter, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma has announced that a federal grand jury in Oklahoma City has indicted Trisha Dawn Fish, 30, Harrah, for embezzlement of life insurance funds intended for the minor child of Army Spec. Jeffrey S. Henthorn.
According to the indictment, Spec. Henthorn and Fish were married, had a child in 1998 and divorced in 2000. Henthorn died in Iraq on Feb. 8, 2005. The indictment alleges that Fish subsequently appeared before the Kickapoo Tribal Court in McLoud and requested to be appointed the guardian and fiduciary of the child for the purpose of receiving the life insurance proceeds from a serviceman’s insurance policy left to the child by Spec. Henthorn.
The funds were a part of the Service Member’s Group Life Insurance (SGLI), a low-cost insurance program provided to military servicemembers and administered by Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. Spec. Henthorn designated that 100 percent of the funds were to go to the child. The indictment alleges that in less than a year, Fish embezzled and misappropriated $400,000 which had been entrusted to her as the guardian and fiduciary of Spec. Henthorn’s child.
Fish was arraigned in U.S. District Court April 15 and released on bond.
If convicted, Fish faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. The public is reminded that the indictments are merely an accusation and that the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case is the result of investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Department of the Defense, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys James F. Robinson and Robert Don Gifford.
HARRAH, Okla. —
