Former Listen director gets 21 months in prison for embezzlement

Listen Community Services Executive Director Kyle Fisher speaks with volunteer servers about a change in how the annual Lebanon Christmas Day Dinner was to be presented to those in attendance in the basement of Sacred Heart Church in Lebanon, N.H., on Dec. 25, 2018. (Valley News - Geoff Hansen) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Listen Community Services Executive Director Kyle Fisher speaks with volunteer servers about a change in how the annual Lebanon Christmas Day Dinner was to be presented to those in attendance in the basement of Sacred Heart Church in Lebanon, N.H., on Dec. 25, 2018. (Valley News - Geoff Hansen) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Valley News file — Geoff Hansen

By JOHN LIPPMAN

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 07-24-2024 7:31 PM

Modified: 07-25-2024 9:27 PM


CONCORD — The former head of Listen Community Services was sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison for embezzling money from the Upper Valley nonprofit that he spent on gambling at a Massachusetts casino, as a Listen director detailed the damage and upheaval Fisher’s crime left on the organization’s ability to carry out its charitable mission.

Kyle Fisher, who ran Listen from 2019 to 2023, received a 21-month sentence in U.S. District Court in Concord, less than the 26 months prosecutors sought but more than the 12 months his defense attorney requested.

“I feel this sentence is warranted and justified given the harm you did to the organization,” U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro said in handing down the sentence on Wednesday during a hearing attended by three Listen employees and a board member.

The losses Listen suffered as a result of Fisher’s embezzlement “go way beyond” any financial impact but also undermined the nonprofit’s mission in the Upper Valley, the judge said. While he said he had been persuaded that mental illness and a gambling addiction were mitigating factors in determining how much time Fisher should spend behind bars, they nonetheless “do not excuse” or absolve him of responsibility for his crime.

Fisher’s time in prison is to be followed by three years of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay $239,000 in restitution, beginning with a $25,000 lump sum payment — taken from his retirement savings — due within 30 days. He must surrender to a federal facility in Butner, N.C., on Sept. 3.

The one-hour long sentencing hearing included a four-page victim impact statement from Listen board member Dick Green, who explained to the judge that “Listen is vital to our Upper Valley neighbors who are in need. It is supported by thousands of people and is a treasure of our community” and detailed the turmoil the nonprofit was thrown into as a result of Fisher’s embezzlement.

“Quite literally, Kyle Fisher’s crimes took food, clothing, heating fuel, electricity, shelter and much more from our neighbors who need help,” said Green.

Green pointed out that the $239,000 Fisher is ordered to repay, although largely covered by insurance, “does not represent the full amount” that he stole from the organization, which additionally incurred “significant out of pocket expenses” for auditing and investigating the theft.

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Listen racked up tens of thousands of dollars in further costs that may never be eligible for restitution, he said.

At times struggling to contain his emotions, Green explained that the embezzlement further robbed Listen of time, delayed initiatives and damaged the nonprofit’s hard-earned reputation in the community built over the 52 years since its founding.

The damage Fisher left in his wake at Listen has left deep emotional scars among his former colleagues, coworkers and supporters, with people using words such as “devastated,” “manipulated and violated,” “heartbroken,” “intentional and selfish,” “anger,” “trauma” and “much to rebuild” to “describe their pain,” Green related.

Worse, some even questioned if Listen wasn’t somehow to blame, he said.

“Many expressed sympathy and pledged to continue supporting Listen. But some asked ‘How could this have happened?’, wondering if Listen was at fault and whether the victim should be blamed,” Green said.

“No one was at fault but Kyle Fisher,” he said.

In pleading for a lighter prison sentence, Fisher’s defense attorney, Charles Keefe, of Nashua, said his client “has never sought to avoid responsibility” for his crime and “he will wear this as a scarlet letter for the rest of his life.”

He argued mental illness and a gambling addiction were the root causes of Fisher’s crime (Fisher has a prior misdemeanor conviction for embezzling less than $200 from a former employer in Michigan and had racked up $150,000 in gambling losses during a former marriage, according to court documents).

And unlike many embezzlement schemes. Fisher did not use the stolen money to buy luxury items or live a “lavish lifestyle,” Keeve said.

“It all went down a black hole,” he said.

Thanks to mental health treatment and medication — Fisher has been diagnosed with bipolar II disorder and was a “severe gambling addict,” according to Keefe — “Kyle is now a different person,” Keefe told the court.

When it came his turn to speak, Fisher, dressed in a dark suit and tie and reading from a hand-written statement, first turned around to acknowledge the presence of three Listen employees and Green, the board member, who were sitting behind him in the visitors’ gallery.

Expressing evident remorse and his hands shaking the paper from which he was reading, Fisher said “I was in a position of trust and I betrayed that trust,” noting that “I loved Listen and I still love Listen.”

But in searching for an answer as to why he stole from his employer, Fisher turned to interlocking disorders he said have long afflicted him.

“The question why I did what I did repeatedly comes up” in his mind, Fisher said, and he sought to find an answer in his mental illness — including a struggle with depression which “I struggled with throughout my adult life” — and gambling addiction.

He said the stress of running a nonprofit through the COVID-19 pandemic, which spurred peak demand for Listen’s community services, only inflamed his mental illness and gambling addiction further.

“I was in a position of trust and I betrayed that trust ... I am committed to the restitution process and I will do everything to make it right,” Fisher said.

Following Fisher’s indictment and the public revelation of his crime, he attempted suicide, Keefe disclosed in court on Wednesday.

Keefe pointed to Fisher’s bipolar disorder and gambling addiction in arguing for a lesser sentence for his client.

Fisher, who lived in Grantham but now a resides in North Carolina, stole at least $239,000 from Listen by siphoning off funds from the organization’s bank accounts to which he had access. He spent the money on a $4,000-per-week gambling habit at a Massachusetts casino, prosecutors said.

Fisher’s attorney is requesting that his client be incarcerated at a low-security “prison camp” at a federal facility in Butner, N.C., about a half hour from where he now lives so that he can be near his family.

The judge said he was amenable to that request and noted it in the record for the Bureau of Prisons.

Green, the Listen board member, declined to offer an opinion on the sentence following the hearing.

“We felt comfortable leaving it in the hands of the judge and people who are trained and experts,” Green said,

Before Fisher left, accompanied by his attorney, he briefly talked and was embraced by each of the three Listen employees who had attended the hearing.

“I still love you,” one of them, Rob Broadwell, warehouse manager, said as he and Fisher hugged.

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.