Darrell Dove, an ex-bookkeeper for a New Britain, Conn., city employees union began a three-year prison term Apr. 12 for embezzling $36,631. Dove’s sentence could have been lighter if he had paid back money to Am. Fed’n of State, County & Mun. Employees Local 1303, where he worked until his arrest in 2000 on state larceny and forgery charges. But Dove had paid nothing back. Conn. Superior Court Judge Howard Owens said that Dove lacks both the resources and the will to pay.
City police said Dove embezzled the money from the Local 1303’s office from June 1999 to Mar. 2000 by forging signatures of the union president and vice president on union checks and then cashing them. Dove was caught because he made the stolen checks cashable to him. The scheme was uncovered during a routine audit of the local in 2000.
Asst. State Public Defender Chris Eddy said Dove stole the union funds due to a gambling problem. As part of the plea bargain agreement securing Dove’s guilty plea, Asst. State’s Atty. Louis Luba agreed to drop other charges, including those connected to a separate incident in which Dove allegedly stole money from a credit union. [Hartford Courant 4/13/02]
Michigan Boss Charged with $32,700 Embezzlement
On Apr. 9, Edward Wiebeck, Sr., ex-business manager of Laborers’ Int’l Union of N. Am. Local 503 in Jackson, Mich., was charged with one count of embezzling $32,790.82 in union funds. [DOL 4/9/02]