A Derby Line woman is heading to federal prison after being convicted of fraud and tax evasion charges.
Amy C. Fletcher, 45, was accused of embezzling nearly $290,000 from the Derby Line Ambulance service over the course of three years. She was the office manager for the program, which she ran with her then-husband, Brian Fletcher.
The ambulance program serves five Northeast Kingdom towns.
Amy Fletcher pleaded guilty to wire fraud and filing a false tax return in June.
At a sentencing hearing last week before Judge J. Garvan Murtha in the U.S. District Court in Brattleboro, attorneys argued over appropriate punishment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Darrow suggested Fletcher should serve a jail sentence. Her defense attorney, David Sleigh, appealed to the judge not to put her behind bars, citing “mass incarceration,” according to a Justice Department news release.
Sleigh wrote in a court filing that the sentencing guideline of 21 to 27 months in prison is too harsh for people with Fletcher’s background. “It is just the sort of sentence that critics identify as inappropriate for first time, nonviolent offenders,” Sleigh wrote.
Ultimately, Murtha imposed a sentence of 15 months in prison, set to begin June 21. Fletcher was also ordered to pay $289,864 to Derby Line Ambulance.
(Editor’s note: This story was updated May 25 at 2:40 p.m. with information about the defense’s filing.)
