Fugitive Prosecutor’s Widow Sentenced

The widow of a fugitive prosecutor, who killed himself in a Nevada hotel, was sentenced in Newark to 27 months in prison for swindling their business partner and cheating on their taxes. Barbara Bissell, 44, could have received up to 41 months. U.S. District Judge Alfred J. Lechner refused to let her serve her sentence at home with her daughters, aged 13 and 15, who wrote to him requesting mercy. Nicholas Bissell, the former Somerset County prosecutor, and his wife skimmed $146,000 from their partner in a gasoline station. Bissell, 49, who also was convicted of corruption, fled rather than face a 10-year prison sentence. He killed himself in Laughlin, Nev.