Woman Ordered to Serve 36 Months in Prison and Pay Over $362,000 in Restitution for Embezzling Life Insurance Intended for Deceased Soldier’s Child

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—This afternoon, TRISHA DAWN FISH, 31, of Harrah, Oklahoma, was sentenced by United States District Judge Stephen P. Friot to serve 36 months in federal prison for embezzlement of military life insurance funds intended for the minor child of deceased Army Specialist Jeffrey S. Henthorn, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. In addition, Judge Friot ordered Fish to serve three years supervised release upon release from prison and pay $362,644 in restitution.

According to Court records, Specialist Henthorn and Fish were married, had a child in 1998 and divorced in 2000. Specialist Henthorn died in Iraq on February 8, 2005. Before his death, he completed a “Service Members Group Life Insurance Election and Certificate” designating his child as the beneficiary to be paid 100% of the insurance proceeds. 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.

In March of 2005, Fish filed a petition for guardianship and temporary custody of Specialist Henthorn’s child in Kickapoo Tribal Court in McCloud, Oklahoma, and cited the need to set up a trust fund for the purpose of receiving the serviceman’s life insurance proceeds and military death gratuity totaling approximately $450,000 for the benefit of the child. In about seven months, Fish embezzled and misappropriated the funds which had been entrusted to her as the guardian and fiduciary of Specialist Henthorn’s child and used the funds for items such as purchases of a car, land, camping trailer, vacations, dogs, jewelry, big screen TV, medications, payment for vacations and meals, and cash gifts to friends and family members.

Fish was indicted in April of 2009, and pled guilty in August of 2009. Fish was ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons on March 3, 2010, to begin serving her sentence.

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, Department of the Defense Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys James F. Robinson and Robert Don Gifford.