A Litchfield attorney was sentenced on May 10, 2021, for embezzling almost $1 million from a charity that supports U.S. military veterans and their families.
In March 2021, Kevin Creed, 69, of Brynes Avenue, Litchfield, was charged with one count of Larceny in the First Degree.
The arrest was the result of an investigation conducted by the Statewide Prosecution Bureau in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney following a complaint by an attorney for the Fisher House Foundation and the Friends of Fisher House - Connecticut (FFH-CT). The Fisher House Foundation is located in Maryland. Its mission is to build “Fisher Houses” on properties associated with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and on U.S. military installations that include major medical facilities. A Fisher House is a multi-unit residence where veterans and their families can stay while undergoing medical treatment.
Beginning in 2010, Creed ran the FFH-CT out of his law practice, The Creed Law Firm, in Bristol, Connecticut. He committed to raising $3 million to support the construction and operation of a Fisher House on the grounds of the West Haven Veterans Hospital. He also advertised that his law firm would underwrite the expenses required to raise the $3 million.
In 2015, Creed submitted a check for $1 million to FFH-CT to begin construction of the Fisher House in West Haven. That was the only donation ever submitted to FFH-CT by the Creed Law Firm.
In 2019, Creed was arrested by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Haven. He was charged with one count of wire fraud for diverting $1.4 million that was raised for FFH-CT from 2014 through 2018. Creed used that money for personal and business expenses. None of the money that was raised for FFH-CT from the time of the $1 million donation in 2015 until Creed’s arrest in 2019 was actually donated to FFH-CT or any other charity.
On November 9, 2020, Judge Janet Hall of the U.S. District Court in New Haven sentenced Creed to 42 months in federal prison. He was also ordered to go on probation after being released from federal prison and to make restitution of $1.4 million to the national Fisher House Foundation. The national organization stepped in to provide the funds needed to complete the construction of the West Haven Fisher House.
Creed was released on bond and was ordered to surrender to federal prison officials and begin serving his sentence on February 21, 2021. That date was subsequently postponed to May 11, 2021, due to Covid-19 issues.
On November 25, 2020, Creed was arrested by inspectors from the Connecticut Statewide Prosecution Bureau. He was charged with one count of Larceny in the First Degree. The arrest warrant alleged that, between January 2015 and November 2018 while he collected donations that were raised by numerous individuals, organizations, and businesses around the state, Creed embezzled approximately $985,000 when he failed to transfer those funds to the FFH-CT charity and, instead, used them for his own purposes. While the total amount embezzled was approximately $1.4 million, due to a five-year statute of limitations, the state was limited to the amount of $985,000.
In New Britain Superior Court on March 10, 2021, before Superior Court Judge Maureen Keegan, Creed entered a guilty plea to the charge of Larceny in the First Degree. The case was continued to May 10, 2021, for a Pre-Sentence Investigation by the Connecticut Office of Adult Probation.
On May 10, 2021, Judge Keegan sentenced Creed to 20 months in prison, a sentence to run consecutively to the federal sentence of 42 months, for a total effective sentence of 62 months in prison. Judge Keegan stayed the imposition of the state sentence until Creed surrenders to federal custody. She then raised Creed’s bond from $250,000 to $1 million. He was taken into state custody pending his transfer to federal prison authorities.
This case was prosecuted by the Statewide Prosecution Bureau in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney. The bureau is grateful for the assistance it received from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Haven.