On November 18, Donald Dixon, ex-treasurer and bookkeeper for Local 623 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to embezzling union funds. He was ordered to make restitution in the amount of $106,152. Dixon had been indicted in July following an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards, Tampa Resident Investigator Office. (OLMS, 12/20).
Ex-Local President in New Orleans Charged with Embezzlement
On December 7, a U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana filed an information count against Roy E. Jones, Jr., ex-president of Local 3450 of the Communications Workers of America, for embezzlement. He is charged with stealing approximately $66,000 from the New Orleans-based local. The action follows an investigation by the Department of Labor. (12/20).
North Dakota Local Secretary-Treasurer Pleads Guilty to Theft
On November 28, Robb Dutchuk, former secretary-treasurer for American Postal Workers Union Local 349 in North Dakota, pled guilty in U.S. District Court to two counts of embezzlement of nearly $35,000 and one count of making a false statement to obtain federal employees’ compensation. Dutchuk had been indicted in August after a joint investigation by the Labor Department and the U.S. Postal Service. (OLMS, 12/20).
Ex-Local Treasurer at Arizona Defense Plant Pleads Guilty
On November 30, Shirley Weber, formerly treasurer of Local 3973 of the American Federation of Government Employees, pled guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona to one count of larceny in the amount of $1,748.50. The local represents support staff based at the Defense Contract Management Council’s Raytheon facility in Tucson. (OLMS, 12/20; other sources).
Pennsylvania Ex-Treasurer Charged with False Record-Keeping
On November 23, an information count was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania against Rosemary Zwetkof Ryan, former treasurer for Jersey Nurses Economic Security Organization (JNESO) Local 717. Ryan had made false entries in union financial records to conceal her embezzlement of local funds. JNESO, as the group now prefers to be known, was founded in 1958; since 1992 the healthcare employees’ union has been affiliated with the International Union of Operating Engineers. (OLMS, 12/20; other sources).