Former sheriff's employee sentenced for embezzlement

A former Flathead County Sheriff’s Office employee was given a 10-year suspended sentence for embezzling more than $90,000 from the sheriff’s office’s employees association.

Flathead County District Judge Ted Lympus sentenced Nicole Fister, 36, of Kalispell, on Feb. 7. She was also ordered to pay $90,643.47 in restitution. She provided a check for $9,150 at the end of the hearing.

The money was stolen from the non-sworn arm of the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office Employee Association, a nonprofit organization that supports charitable causes with the money, which is collected from membership dues and fundraising. No public or Sheriff’s Office money was stolen.

Fister had told a detective she used some of the money for personal expenses and gave some money to her son and daughter. The thefts were discovered in mid-April.

Fister’s attorney, Sean Hinchey, told the court his client and her husband Nick, a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office, sold as many belongings as they could to come up with that initial payment.

Fister gave a tearful apology for her actions during the hearing.

“To all my coworkers and my friends ... I can’t express how sorry I am for letting you all down and breaking your trust. This ... has not changed only my own life but the others around me,” she said. “I am heartbroken by the pain, anguish and shame I brought upon those with this thoughtless act. Although I cannot go back and change the past, I can work for the future.”

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan had asked for a sentence of five years with the Montana Department of Corrections followed by five years of probation or, if the entire sentence was to be suspended, at least 30 days in jail.

In his argument for a fully suspended sentence, Hinchey pointed out Fister’s remorse, the shame and humiliation she had already suffered, that her initial payment that was more than 10 percent of the total restitution, and that she had no criminal history.