Nicole Chambers, the former office manager of The Dartmouth, pleaded guilty today to embezzling more than $223,000 from the student newspaper between April 2017 and September 2021.
Chambers pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in federal court in Concord, N.H., with Chief Judge Landya B. McCafferty presiding.
Chambers, a former Springfield, Vt. resident who now resides in Florida, worked for The Dartmouth from 2012 until her resignation in 2021, when students at the newspaper discovered missing funds and reported them to the Hanover Police Department, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth.
According to a statement released by the Department of Justice today, an investigation led by the FBI found that Chambers had used The Dartmouth’s Paypal and Venmo accounts to “make unauthorized transfers to accounts she controlled.” Additionally, Chambers made unauthorized purchases on the company’s debit card, the statement explained.
The investigation found that Chambers spent more than $20,000 of the embezzled funds on personal trips, while another $2,000 paid for “fees associated with her husband’s court case in Newport (R.I.) County Superior Court,” according to the statement.
Chambers signed a plea deal with federal authorities, which provides for a suggested sentence of between zero and 15 months, according to court documents. Chambers, however, can face a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or more.
Chambers will also be required to pay The Dartmouth the full $223,372.51 stolen in restitutions. Her sentence will be decided by Chief Judge McCafferty in a sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for Aug. 12.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Chen, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment in court on Tuesday and pointed to his office’s press release.
Kyle Mullins ’22, who served as editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth at the time of Chambers’s resignation and who attended today’s hearing, said it was “great to see justice finally being served in this case.”
Mullins added that the restitutions will support the newspaper’s “continued financial health.”
“Those funds go towards informing and covering the local community,” Mullins said. “They also go toward stipends for students who otherwise couldn’t afford to work for The [Dartmouth] on a volunteer basis.”
The Dartmouth is published by The Dartmouth, Inc., which is organized as a non-profit corporation in New Hampshire. The Dartmouth was founded in 1799 and is America’s oldest college newspaper. Although The Dartmouth leases office space from Dartmouth College in Robinson Hall, the organization is independent of the College and is supported financially by advertising sales, investment income and donations.
