Charles C. Isely, III, ex-president and treasurer of the Int’l Employees Welfare Union (IEWU) pled guilty on July 10 to embezzlement and mail fraud. He embezzled $362,000 from the Waukegan, Ill.-based union, which he founded and ran from 1974 to 1998. He wrote 30 fraudulent checks totaling $225,000 from IEWU’s death trust fund, and 40 checks for $108,000 on IEWU’s bank accounts. Isely used the union’s funds for personal expenses. Further, Isely allegedly obtained a $20,000 bank loan under the union’s name and reportedly deposited it in his personal bank account. Isely committed the crimes between 1994 and 1997.
Isely could be sentenced to more than two years in prison on October 2, according to Asst. U.S. Attny Carolyn McNiven. [Chi. Trib. 7/11/02]