East Haven Resident Who Stole from Town's Board of Education Child Care Program is Sentenced

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that CATHERINE FINKLE, 58, of East Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to three years of probation, the first six months of which Finkle must spend in home confinement, for stealing more than $38,000 from East Haven’s Board of Education child care program.  Judge Underhill also ordered Finkle to pay a $20,000 fine, and to perform 50 hours of community of service while on supervised release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from January 2000 to November 2018, Finkle was the East Haven Board of Education Program Director for the School Age Child Care Program, commonly called the Little Jackets Program.  As the program director, Finkle had access to the Little Jacket Program’s bank accounts and received tuition payments on behalf of the program.  From January 2011 to November 2018, Finkle defrauded the East Haven Board of Education by taking more than $38,000 in tuition payments, in the form of money orders and cash, that had been made for students in the Little Jackets Program.  She then diverted the payments for her own benefit.

Judge Underhill ordered Finkle to pay restitution of $38,554.50.

On February 11, 2021, Finkle pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller.