Former dean at St. Catherine University sentenced for embezzling over $400,000 from school
The former dean of nursing at St. Catherine University in St. Paul has been sentenced for embezzling over $400,000 from the school for the benefit of her boyfriend.
A Ramsey County judge sentenced Laura Fero, 56, on Wednesday to three years of supervised probation for one count of felony theft by swindle. Fero pleaded guilty to the charge in April.
St. Kate's alerted St. Paul police when it discovered it had lost around $400,000 after she left her position in August 2023.
Investigators say that Fero between August 2020 and August 2023 used her position to pay her then-boyfriend's company, JB and Associates, $412,644 for "little or no services to the university."
Fero was arrested in May 2024 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after she arrived on a flight from Orlando, Florida.
Fero's then-boyfriend was found not guilty on six counts of theft by swindle in July 2024, according to court records.
She was originally charged with six counts of theft by swindle, but five counts were dropped as part of a plea deal.
