Given the evidence, Ava Shaw and Jennifer Boyd face an uphill climb in beating an embezzlement rap. But the former leaders of the San Gabriel Teachers Association (SGTA), an affiliate of the National Education Association, think otherwise. On July 6, the pair pleaded not guilty at the Alhambra Courthouse to charges that they took a combined more than $85,000 from the union. Shaw, 50, a resident of Pasadena, taught special students at a public middle school starting in 1997. At the time of her arrest in March, she was employed at a private Los Angeles school. Investigators believe that Shaw siphoned around $83,000 during her four-year tenure as SGTA president, using union checks and credit cards to pay for personal expenses. Nearly $2,500 of those checks, say prosecutors, were pocketed by Boyd, 34, a public school special-needs teacher arrested in April. Each of the accused posted bail shortly after their arrests. (Pasadena Star-News, 7/7/06).
Michigan Secretary Pleads Guilty to Making False Statement
The trail of locating stolen funds sometimes can lead through a loan application. That’s the way it was in the case of the Copper Country chapter of the Michigan Education Association. Susan Lynn Gregg, 36, a former secretary of the chapter, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on July 10 to making a false statement on her application. The loan, for $29,000, was intended to cover the disappearance of $178,000 from the union’s coffers over the course of 1999-2005. Sentencing is scheduled for November. (WLUC-TV, 7/10/06).
Former Business Manager for Kansas Local Sentenced
On June 26, Vince L. Matthews, former business manager and financial secretary for Sheet Metal Workers Local 29, was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to make $73,291 in restitution to the local. Matthews had pleaded guilty in April to one count of embezzling funds in the amount of $93,298.28. The sentencing follows an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
Cincinnati-Area Ex-Financial Secretary Charged with Bank Fraud
On June 21, Russell J. Liming, former business manager-financial secretary for Sheet Metal Workers Local 183, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, was charged with bank fraud. He pleaded guilty last August. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
Oregon Ex-Bookkeeper Sentenced for Embezzlement
On June 19, Deann Schnepple, former bookkeeper for Laborers International Union of North America, District Council of Oregon, Southern Idaho, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to three years of supervised probation, six months of which must be served in home confinement, for embezzling union funds. She will have to make restitution in the amount of $44,758. Schnepple had issued herself 26 unauthorized checks and used three union credit cards to make purchases on personal items. She pled guilty in April. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
Ex-Oklahoma VA Hospital Workers Local Chieftain Sentenced
On June 19, Jerry T. LeBlanc, former president of Local 2250 of the American Federation of Government Employees, was sentenced in federal court to five years probation, including six months of home detention for embezzlement of local funds. He also was ordered to make restitution worth $46,151.51. The local represents employees of the VA hospital in Muskogee. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
Local President in Washington, D.C. Pleads Guilty to Fraud
On June 26, Mary Garner, former president of AFGE Local 3653, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to one count of mail fraud as part of a scheme to defraud the union of $12,194.78. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
Ex-Secretary in Tennessee Sentenced for Falsifying Records
On June 19, Charles Douglas Davis, former secretary-treasurer of Locomotive Engineers Division 239, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to four years probation, ordered to perform 50 hours of community service, and required to make restitution to the union in the amount of more than $34,000. Davis previously had pled guilty to one count of filing a false report and two counts of falsifying union records. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
Former Secretary for Ohio Local Sentenced for Theft
On June 26, Barbara Turner, ex-office secretary for the Ohio and Vicinity Council of Carpenters, an affiliate of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to five years probation for theft of nearly $30,000 in union funds. She also will have to make restitution to the union. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
Ex-Secretary of Texas Local Arrested for Embezzlement
On June 28, Judy Cary, former secretary for Local 6127 of the Communications Workers of America, was arrested and charged in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas with embezzling roughly $29,000 in union funds. The local is based in Midland. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
Philadelphia Vice-President Sentenced for Embezzlement
On June 28, Kevin Kulp, formerly vice-president of Iron Workers Local 161, was sentenced in federal court to three years probation for embezzling nearly $22,000 from an employee benefit plan. Six months of that sentence would consist of house arrest with electronic monitoring. Kulp, who had pleaded guilty in March, also was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and a $100 special assessment. The sentencing follows a joint investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and the Employee Benefits Security Administration. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
Former Treasurer for Ohio Local Indicted for Embezzlement
On June 27, Nanette Peterson, former treasurer for Local 11, Chapter 2597 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on one count of embezzling $6,309 in union funds. Local 11 represents the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
Tennessee Local President Sentenced for Falsifying Records
On June 14, Edward Dupree, former president of Local 138 of the Independent Guards Union of North America, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee to 65 days in prison and ordered to pay $3,391.12 in restitution to the local. Dupree previously had pleaded guilty to one count of falsifying records of the Nashville-based union. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
STEELWORKERS (USWA)
Alabama Local Bookkeeper Pleads Guilty to Forgery, Theft
On June 12, Peter Bush, former bookkeeper for Local 09-1071L of the United Steelworkers of America, pleaded guilty in Tuscaloosa County Prosecutorial District of Alabama to six counts of forgery, six counts of possession of a forged instrument, and one count of theft of property. He was sentenced to three years of supervised probation, and ordered to pay $2,061 in restitution to the union. (OLMS, 7/6/06).
South Dakota Business Manager Sentenced to Probation
On June 26, David Pirrung, ex-business manager and secretary-treasurer for International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, to one year of probation and fined $1,000 for concealing union records. Pirrung pled guilty back in March. He originally had been charged with stealing $3,000 in union funds. (OLMS, 7/6/06).