Denise Crerar has been charged in the Outagamie County Circ. Ct. with stealing more than $264,000 from the Wisc. Regional Council of Carpenters. According to the criminal complaint, Ken Clark, exec. director of United Bhd. of Carpenters Local 1056, returned early from a Jan. business trip and saw a pile of checks on his desk all made payable to Crear. When confronted, Crear admitted that she had been writing 12 to 15 checks to herself each week since March 2001. Allegedly, she also kept more than $2,500 in testing fees from union members, and stole between $5,000 and $10,000 from the petty cash fund. [Capital Times, 3/23/04]
Long Island Fedtn, Investigating Theft of Funds
The Long Island Fedtn. of Labor is investigating the possible embezzlement of at least $50,000 by a frmr. employee. Fedtn. officials have retained an accounting firm to determine how much was stolen. That audit, being conducted by the Manhattan firm of Buchbinder, Tunick & Co., is expected to be completed in several weeks. The ex-employee has begun to make restitution, acc. to spokesman Mark Grossman. Sources in the ofc. of Suffolk County D.A. Thomas Spota say that any decision on prosecution will be made after the audit is completed, and the terms of restitution are determined. [Newsday, 3/17/04]
Ex- Fla. Employee Sentenced for Embezzling From Welfare Plan
The frmr. secy. of the Orlando-based apprenticeship and training fund of Local 808 of the Intl. Assn. of Iron Wrkrs. was ordered to repay $29,547 she stole from the fund and sentenced to 90 days’ home confinement and five years’ probation. The criminal sentence was based on an investigation conducted by the U. S. Dept. of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Admin. (EBSA). “Theft of employee benefits assets jeopardizes the lives of workers and their families,” said Howard Marsh, director of the Atlanta EBSA regional office. “These workers covered by the training fund deserve to have their money used for the intended purpose.”
Donna Cordero was sentenced in the Orlando Fed. Ct. after pleading guilty to one count of embezzling $30,359 in assets from the fund. She was indicted in September 2003, for embezzling the assets of an employee benefit plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Cordero allegedly carried out the criminal act by issuing herself additional paychecks to which she was not entitled that were drawn on the fund’s account.
The sentence was entered on March 15, in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the Mid. Dist. of Fla. The Atlanta regional office of the EBSA investigated the case. The U.S. Attny. for the Mid. Dist. of Fla. prosecuted the case. The apprenticeship fund covered 151 participants under a collective bargaining agreement with sponsoring employers located throughout central Florida. [EBSA, 3/23/04]
Ex-Bus. Agent Indicted for Embezzlement
On March 10, in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the Sou. Dist. of Fla., an information was filed against Robert Levine, former bus. agent & fin. secy. of Local 1175 of the Intl Bhd. of Painters & Allied Trades. He allegedly embezzled $212,580 in union funds and $3,350.00 from an apprenticeship fund. The charges follow an investigation by the Atlanta Dist. Ofc. of the U.S. Ofc. of Labor Mgmt. Standards. [OLMS, 3/17/04: U.S.A.O. S.D., FL, 3/11/04]
NYC Member Confesses to Witness Tampering
On March 16, in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the East. Dist. of NY, Peter McDonegh, a member of Local 1 of the Intl. Union of Elevator Constructors, pled guilty to an information charging him with witness tampering. The charge and guilty plea were filed on the same day. McDonegh admitted to verbally threatening two primary witnesses during the course of the criminal trial of Charles Novak, the frmr. exec. vice-pres. of Local 1 and McDonegh’s father-in-law. McDonegh was released on $250,000 bail and, as a result of his guilty plea, released from prison. He spent approximately 60 days in jail during Novak’s trial. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the NY Dist. Ofc. of the U.S. Ofc. of Labor Mgmt. Standards.