Innocent pleas entered for Fisher, assistant

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Innocent pleas to charges of embezzlement have been entered for Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher and his top assistant. <br><br>Oklahoma County District Judge Susan Caswell

Saturday, March 6th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Innocent pleas to charges of embezzlement have been entered for Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher and his top assistant.

Oklahoma County District Judge Susan Caswell entered innocent pleas Friday for Fisher, who said nothing during a brief hearing in Oklahoma City. His assistant, Opal Ellis, entered her own pleas.

Fisher and Ellis are accused of embezzling money raised in connection with an insurance education program and with operating a charity illegally.

Ellis is charged separately with embezzlement for allegedly placing continuing education funds in her personal account and keeping 10 percent of the revenues from vending machines at the state Insurance Department.

The charity-related charges, involving a foundation that purportedly was set up to buy shoes for poor children, include failure to register the organization, failure to report contributions and failure to provide or keep receipts.

An April 22 preliminary hearing conference was set before Special Judge D. Fred Doak, the Tulsa World reported from its Capitol bureau.

The multicounty grand jury indicted Fisher and Ellis on similar charges, which were dropped and refiled to keep defense attorneys from challenging the panel's actions. The move is considered routine.

Fisher's lawyer, Irven Box, said he intends to refile motions making such a challenge. Box argues that because all the alleged crimes were committed in Oklahoma County, the multicounty grand jury was not the proper entity to issue the indictments.

Box indicated that he also might refile a motion asking that Assistant Attorney General Joel-lyn McCormick and the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office be removed from the case because of alleged prejudicial statements she previously made.

McCormick called the defense's contentions ``frivolous'' and an attempt to divert attention away from the real issues in the cases.

Box said there may be motions in the coming weeks that will have to be heard by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals or the state Supreme Court.

An embezzlement conviction could bring between one and 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500.

Because of Ellis' prior conviction for misapplying bank funds, her possible sentence would range from 10 years to life in prison, according to information from the state Attorney General's Office.