Deborah Bankston, ex-financial secretary-treasurer of Ass’n of Western Pulp & Paperworkers Local 83 in Stockton, Cal., was charged Sept. 26 with embezzling $64,711 in union funds. [DOL 9/26/01]
Year and a Day for West Virginia Embezzler who Took $59,100
Donna Hill, ex-office secretary for Int’l Bhd. of Painters and Allied Trades Local 970 in Charleston, W. Va., was sentenced Sept. 25 to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. She was ordered to make restitution of $53,906.50. She had pled guilty on July 9 to an indictment which charged her with embezzling $59,167. [DOL 9/25, 7/9/01]
Texas Boss gets Year for $51,400 Embezzlement
In U.S. Dist. Court for the N. Dist. of Tex., Gary Monsson, ex-secretary-treasurer of Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Employees Local 3000, was sentenced Sept. 14 to 12 months incarceration and 3 years of supervised released. He was ordered to make restitution to the union of $12,176.74 in addition to the amounts he had already repaid. He had earlier pled guilty to embezzling union funds. He pled guilty June 15 to an information charging him with embezzling $51,464.49 in union funds. [DOL 9/14, 6/15/01]
Connecticut Boss Admits Stealing $15,700 in Public Funds
Ralph Varnardo, ex-president of Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Employees Local 1674 in New Haven, Conn., pled guilty Sept. 17 to one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 641 (Embezzlement of Public Money) in the amount of $15,724. Local 1674 is connected to the Veterans Admin. [DOL 9/17/01]
Philadelphia Boss Admits $3,400 Theft
On Sept. 12, James Bryant, ex-secretary-treasurer of Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Employees Local 2061 in Philadelphia, entered into a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to 2 counts of theft by unlawful taking within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S. He agreed to make restitution to the union in the amount of $3,480. Local 2061 is connected to the Gen. Serv. Admin. [DOL 9/12/01]
Embezzler gets Year at Home for Embezzling $49,300 from Detroit-Area Union
Nadine Corey, ex-president of the Ass’n of Credit Union Employees in Ferndale, Mich., was sentenced Sept. 5 to one year home confinement and 3 years probation. She was also ordered to make restitution to the union of $49,385.95. She previously pled guilty to labor union embezzlement. [DOL 9/5/01]
Denver Staffer Embezzled $30,800, Gets 6 Months at Home
Shelly S. Pfeifer, ex-bookkeeper and office secretary for Operative Plasterers’ & Cement Masons’ Int’l Ass’n Local 577 in Denver, pled guilty Aug. 13 to one count of embezzling union funds. She was ordered to make restitution of $30,863.55 to the union’s bonding company and was sentenced to six months of home detention monitored by an electronic device and 5 years probation. A federal grand jury indicted Pfeifer Feb. 28 on 265 counts of union embezzlement. She was accused of embezzling $16,493.27 and pocketing union dues from 265 members of the local. [DOL 8/13, 2/28/01; Denver Post 3/1/01]
Las Vegas Boss Charged with $24,900 Embezzlement
David Manes, ex-business representative of the United Steelworkers of Am. Local 711-A in Las Vegas, was indicted Aug. 29 on 153 counts of embezzling a total of $24,923.42 in union funds. Twenty counts involved unauthorized salary, 119 counts involved personal purchases on the union’s credit card and other accounts, and 14 counts involved use of union funds for personal debts. [DOL 8/29/01]
Virgin Islands Staffer Gets 14 Months for $11,000 Embezzlement
On Sept. 7, in U.S. Dist. Court for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Timothy Daley, ex-office secretary for the United Steelworkers of Am. Local 8248 in Christiansted, V.I. was sentenced to 14 months incarceration with three years probation and was ordered to make restitution to the union of $11,280.13. He had pled guilty to embezzling union funds. [DOL 9/7/01]
Tennessee Bookkeeper Charged with $5,600 Theft
On Aug. 21, in U.S. Dist. Court for the Middle Dist. of Tenn., Michele Arington, ex-bookkeeper for United Steelworkers of Am. Local 9-194-L, was indicted on one count of embezzling $5,635 in union funds.[DOL 8/21/01]
Maine Boss Sentenced to 6 Months at Home for $8,500 Embezzlement
Ray R. Curtis, ex-secretary-treasurer and business manager of Laborers’ Int’l Union of N. Am. Local 327 in Augusta, Me., was sentenced Sept. 4 to 3 years probation with a condition that he serve 6 months in home confinement with electronic monitoring. He was also ordered to make restitution to the union of the balance he owes, $6,655. He pled guilty May 10 to embezzling $8,547 in union funds from 1997-99. A Dep’t of Labor audit determined that Curtis gave himself 109 paychecks over 91 weeks, wrongly receiving $7,704. It also found that he used a union check to buy an $835 snowblower for his personal use. [DOL 9/4/01; Portland (Me.) Press Herald 5/12/01]
Eastern Pennsylvanian Charged with $7,600 Union Theft
On Aug. 14, in the Berks County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas, Kathleen L. Frost, ex bookkeeper of the Int’l Ass’n of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental & Reinforcing Iron Workers Local 420 in Reading, was indicted on one count of theft by unlawful taking and one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received in the amount of $7,653.46 in union funds. [DOL 8/14/01]