Ex-president of Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Employees Local 1812, Hope Butler, pled guilty Dec. 7 to a federal felony charge of making false statements. The plea related to her unlawful conduct while serving as president of the Washington, D.C. based local, which is linked to the U.S. Info. Agency, from 1996 to 2000. At the same time, Butler’s sister-in-law, co-defendant Nadine Crump Butler pled guilty to misdemeanor first-degree fraud. From about Mar. 1999 to Apr. 2000, Butler and Crump Butler engaged in a fraudulent scheme to extract funds from the local.
On numerous occasions, Butler presented blank local checks to other local bosses authorized to co-sign them, and obtained their signatures. Butler signed nine of those checks, totaling $14,250, to “Nadine Crump and Associates” or “Nadine Crump.” To justify the checks, Butler caused invoices from “Crump & Associates” to be kept and maintained in the local’s records. These invoices typically represented that Crump & Associates provided work related to grievances and employee issues, when, in truth, Crump Butler did not provide such services. Within days, these checks were endorsed by Crump Butler and cashed or deposited into her personal bank account or an account belonging to Butler. When funds were deposited into Crump Butler’s bank account, she would soon thereafter write a check from that account, or provide cash, to Butler. Of the $14,250 fraudulently paid to her, Crump Butler routed at least $11,340 back to Butler.
Further, between Apr. and Aug. 2000, Butler prepared, signed, and submitted a fraudulent LM-3 form to the Dep’t of Labor. The form stated that for 1999, Butler had not received any monetary disbursements from the local, when, in truth, she had received at least $7,940 during that period via Crump Butler. Finally, Butler also admitted that while president, she wrote checks drawn on local funds to herself and other persons and companies for her personal use and benefit, and not to pay local expenses.
As a result of all of Butler’s fraudulent conduct, Local 1812 lost as much as $20,677. The defendants, both Md. residents, pled guilty before U.S. Dist. Judge Richard W. Roberts (D.D.C., Clinton). He scheduled sentencing for Mar. 13. [USAO D.D.C. 12/10/01]
Gary Local’s Tainted Vote Overturned
On Jan. 23, the U.S. Dist. Court for the N. Dist. of Ind. granted the Dep’t of Labor’s motion for summary judgment and ordered United Steelworkers of Am. Local 1014 of Gary to rerun its Apr. 24, 2000, officer election under DOL supervision. DOL’s probe found that Local 1014’s application of a meeting attendance requirement barred more than 98% of its membership from running for office. [DOL 1/23/02]