Fiske gets 3 years for embezzlement

A 57-year-old Anderson woman was sentenced Friday to nearly three years in federal prison after pleading guilty in September to embezzling about $1.2 million from her former employer.

Nancy Frances Fiske, who faced a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, was sentenced to 33 months, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Stegman.

She must serve at least 85 percent of that sentence, or about 2.3 years, before becoming eligible for parole.

She also was ordered to pay $1,227,563 in restitution to her former employer, Jerry L. Knighten Construction, Stegman said, noting that a "significant" amount of jewelry forfeited to the FBI has been turned over to the company. About $5,000 derived from the sale of some real estate also has been deposited with the court for release to the company, he said.

Fiske will be on supervised release for three years once she's released from federal prison, Stegman said.

She has requested incarceration at the Federal Correctional Institution at Dublin, a low-security prison for female offenders about 20 miles southeast of Oakland.

Fiske stole the money from the Anderson-based construction business from 2001 to 2007 while she was employed there at various times as a bookkeeper, controller and office manager, Stegman has said.

In agreeing last year to one felony count of mail fraud, Fiske admitted that she used her positions in the company to write checks to herself and others.

Stegman, citing federal sentencing guidelines, said he argued for a prison term of 41 months to 51 months because she was in a position of trust with the construction company when she embezzled the money.

But, he said, Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. disagreed that Fiske held a position of trust and imposed the 33-month sentence.

The investigation, jointly conducted by the Anderson Police Department and the FBI, concluded that Fiske issued more than 500 checks from the construction company's bank account to herself.

Fiske is to report to prison officials on March 6.