Harrah Woman Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Life Insurance Intended for Deceased Soldier’s Child

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—Yesterday afternoon, TRISHA DAWN FISH, 30, of Harrah, Oklahoma, pled guilty to embezzlement of life insurance funds intended for the minor child of Army Specialist Jeffrey S. Henthorn, announced John C. Richter, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Fish was indicted in April of this year. According to the indictment, Specialist Henthorn and Fish were married, had a child in 1998 and divorced in 2000. Henthorn died in Iraq on February 8, 2005. Fish subsequently appeared before the Kickapoo Tribal Court in McCloud, Oklahoma, 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 Specialist 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. Specialist Henthorn designated that 100% of the funds were to go to the child. In less than a year, Fish embezzled and misappropriated approximately $400,000.00 which had been entrusted to her as the guardian and fiduciary of Specialist Henthorn’s child.

At sentencing, Fish faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000.00 fine. Sentencing will be set by the Court in approximately 90 days.

The Servicemember’s Group Life Insurance (SGLI) is available to members of the armed services, including Reservists, Guardsmen, cadets and midshipmen of the service academies, as well as commissioned officers of the Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Currently there are 2.4 million military members covered under SGLI, and another 3 million military family members covered under the Family SGLI. Further information about SGLI is available at www.insurance.va.gov.

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.