On July 15, 2002, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Lori Delaney, former bookkeeper for Sheet Metal Workers Local 80 in Southfield, pled guilty to embezzling approximately $18,000 in union funds. The charges had been brought on February 6, 2002, following a joint investigation by the Detroit Office of the U.S. Labor Dept. Office of Labor-Mgmt. Standards and the Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General. [DOL]
Ex-Official Admits $10K Embezzlement in Fresno, Calif.
Jeremias Lopez pled guilty on July 10 to embezzling about $10,800 from Laborers Intl. Union Local 220. She faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $10,000 fine in the U.S. Dist. Ct. in Fresno. Lopez is also barred from employment or service with a union for 13 years.
Lopez was both Business Manager and Secy.-Treasurer of Local 220 from May 1996 to December 1997. During that time, according to the plea agreement, Lopez falsified the union’s financial disclosure form to be filed with the U.S. Dept. of Labor. By changing those records, Lopez converted $10,814 of the Local members’ funds to his personal use. Eventually, the Los Angeles office of the DOL’s Office of Labor-Mgmt. Standards uncovered the embezzlement. [U.S.A.O., E.D. CA, DOL]