Oswego County BOCES teacher charged with 3 felonies for stealing more than $4k from school

MEXICO, N.Y. — A teacher in Oswego County has been charged with stealing more than $4,000 from the Center for Instruction Technology and Innovation (CiTi) BOCES.

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Oswego County District Attorney Gregory Oakes, and State Police Acting Superintendent Steven Nigrelli announced that adult literacy teacher William Fisher was charged with falsifying his time sheets to steal more than $4,000 from his employer, CiTi BOCES.

“William Fisher was supposed to help adults earn their GED and open a path to greater opportunities, but instead falsified timesheets to line his own pockets,” DiNapoli said.

Fisher worked for CiTi BOCES in the Town of Mexico, New York. During an internal audit, CiTi BOCES found discrepancies with Fisher’s time sheets. CiTi BOCES reported this to the New York State Police, who in turn, contacted DiNapoli’s office to partner in the investigation.

Fisher, who has been suspended, was required to meet with students for tutoring sessions and provide them with work packets. The investigation found that from January-September of 2022, he did not provide these sessions to at least three students and instead submitted false timesheets to be paid for sessions that never occurred.

He was allegedly paid at least $4,409 which he was not entitled to based upon his deception. During the course of the investigation, Fisher was hired by the Oswego Central School District but has since been suspended.

Fisher was charged with three counts of falsifying business records, grand larceny and corrupting the government, all felonies.

He was arraigned in Oswego County Centralized Arraignment Part and is due back in court on August 22.