Jury convicts former deputy of stealing $200,000 from dying brother

A former Kit Carson deputy was convicted Thursday by a Denver jury of stealing more than $200,000 from his older brother, who died of cancer in 2015.

Larry Duane Fisher, 61, was found guilty of two felony theft counts, including theft from an at-risk adult, for draining a bank account that was set up to pay for his brother’s care and medical bills, according to an arrest affidavit in the case.

Floyd W. Fisher, age 77 at the time of his death, was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in July 2015.

Larry Fisher, on Aug. 1, 2015, was named by his brother as “Durable Power of Attorney” to handle his finances. Floyd Fisher died Dec. 28, 2015.

A property sale in Sherman County, Kan., on Sept. 14, 2015, pumped $189,227.02 in the account. The property had been in family of Floyd Fisher’s wife for generations and was sold for “the sole purpose of his care and benefit and to pay his medical bills,” according to the affidavit.

A week after Floyd Fisher’s death, the account had a balance of $104,750, according to the affidavit. A closing balance, on Oct. 31, 2016, showed $13.59 in the account.

In August 2016, Hilda Fisher-polacek, Floyd’s daughter, determined that Larry Fisher had not filed any probate matters with the court. In November 2016 she was appointed personal representative of her father’s estate.

“Between September 2015 and October 31, 2016, Larry Fisher drained the account of his brother Floyd Fisher,” according to the affidavit. After Floyd Fisher’s death, Larry Fisher “continued to spend down funds.”

Fisher-polacek found that Larry Fisher paid $44,904.60 cash for a new pickup truck on Nov. 10, 2015. Among items purchased by Larry Fisher with account funds were “numerous guns,” the affidavit said.

Fisher-polacek determined that $13,192.15 from the account was spent for the care and benefit of her father, the court document said, which included funeral costs of $4,870.

An arrest warrant was issued for Larry Fisher on Oct. 10, 2017.

About $207,000 was taken from the account illegally, according to the district attorney’s office.

Larry Fisher worked as a deputy for the Kit Carson Sheriff’s Office from 1979 to 1997, the DA’S office said. The case was prosecuted by the economic crime unit.

Larry Fisher also was convicted Thursday of felony theft — between $100 and $1 million. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 28.