Laura Jean Fero, the former dean of nursing at St. Catherine University, not only embezzled more than $400,000 from the school and funneled the money to her boyfriend’s phony business, she also used university funds to pay for five trips to popular vacation destinations, according to new charges filed Monday.
The latest accusations were filed in Ramsey County District Court against 56-year-old Juan Ramon Bruce of Shakopee and contend that his company “pretended to be a marketing company, but its actual purpose was to obtain misappropriated funds from St. Catherine’s.”
Bruce was charged with six counts of theft by swindle in connection with Fero allegedly siphoning the St. Paul private school’s money from 2020 until last summer. Fero was identically charged last week after the university said it found that she embezzled roughly $412,000 through contracts the school had with JB & Associates.
Authorities arrested Fero on Wednesday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and she was released on a personal recognizance bond. She is due back in court June 7 and has been asked for a response to the allegations.
Fero lives in Florida, where she is dean of nursing for a university under AdventHealth, a private system of more than 20 hospitals and emergency rooms in the Orlando metropolitan area.
Bruce has a June 6 court date and remains jailed in lieu of $75,000 bail. Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, said the prosecution during a hearing Monday “requested $100,000 [bail], noting unique flight risk concerns based on information provided by police.”
The defense explained in court Monday the perceived flight risk stemmed from his arrest at his home Friday, where his car was packed with his son’s belongings. He explained that he was getting ready to go to his son’s graduation and that the vehicle wasn’t operational.
Court records do not list an attorney for Fero or Bruce.