U.S. Dist. Judge Paul D. Matia (N.D. Ohio, H.W. Bush) sentenced Stephen T. Hanlon Feb. 13 to five years probation, including six months home confinement with electronic monitoring, for embezzling $21,657.58 from United Steelworkers of Am. Local 01-4564-S in Girard, Ohio. He also ordered Hanlon to make full restitution.
Hanlon pled guilty Nov. 16 to union embezzlement after being charged on Nov. 2. He admitted to embezzling the funds from May 1998 to June 2000, while serving as financial secretary. He embezzled the funds by various checks-for-cash schemes and using the cash for personal purposes. To circumvent the three-signature requirement for union checks, he wrote and cashed 47 counter checks, payable to himself or cash. He also stole funds by getting cash back from bank deposits of union checks, including payroll tax deposits. He also diverted and cashed the local’s tax refunds from the IRS, the receipt of which he did not disclose to other bosses.
Because the local’s practice was to use the home address of the financial secretary as the local’s business address, Hanlon received the refunds at home. To conceal the thefts, he provided the local’s treasurer false figures and did not provide actual bank statements. [USAO N.D. Ohio 2/14/02, DOL 2/13/02]