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| Ex-Prison Charity Director Sentenced for Fraud |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/04/2003 |
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A man who for 25 years ran a charity that helped inmates has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for fraudulently taking more than $400,000 from the organization. John A. Fidler Jr., of Pennside, was sentenced August 1 to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $450,300 in restitution and court costs. Fidler was convicted in March of 12 counts of mail fraud and 38 counts of wire fraud for taking money from the Berks County Prison Society. Investigators said Fidler paid himself at least $300,000 in secret bonuses between 1997 and 2001, more than doubling his salary. Much of the money was taken from donations made by the United Way. To keep the bonuses a secret, investigators said, Fidler doctored reports to make it seem as if the pay was going to his small staff, or to finance nonexistent jobs. At trial, low-paid society employees testified that Fidler denied them raises and scrimped on office expenses to produce an annual budget surplus that he would pocket. Society officials said audits revealed that Fidler had been paying himself 30 percent of the nonprofit group's annual budget. Under Fidler's leadership, the society, founded in 1975, developed a wide range of counseling services and educational and financial aid programs for prisoners and their families. |
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