On March 23, Kay Joy Andrews, former bookkeeper for Local 1780 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada to five years probation, including six months of home confinement, and ordered to pay $40,086.50 in restitution. She pleaded guilty last September to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $55,765.55. The sentencing follows a joint investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and Office of Inspector General. (OLMS, 4/5/07).
Ex-Bookkeeper of Atlanta Local Agrees to Probation, Restitution
On March 15, Suzanne Green, former bookkeeper of Local 613 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, entered an Alford plea in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia as part of an agreement to serve five years probation, three of them supervised. Green had been charged in July 2006 with the theft of $11,203 in union funds, all of which must be repaid as restitution. An “Alford plea,” based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, North Carolina v. Alford (1970), is a legal maneuver by which a criminal defendant, rather than admit to committing illegal acts, acknowledges that sufficient evidence exists to yield a guilty verdict at a later point in time. Though different from nolo contendere (which is not an admission of guilt), the motive behind both pleas is the same: a desire to disguise culpability through the use of obfuscating language. (OLMS, 4/5/07).
Pennsylvania Officials Sentenced for Record-Keeping Violations
On March 28, William Dowdell and Tom Honold, respectively, former president and secretary-treasurer of Communications Workers of America Local 23 in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area, were sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, for making false entries in union financial records. Dowdell received one year in prison and a $1,000 fine, and was ordered to make $3,192.99 in restitution, while Honold was sentenced to two years of probation, three months of which would be under house arrest, plus was ordered to pay $4,458.56 and a $1,000 fine. The court waived Honold’s fine due to financial hardship. Each pleaded guilty last December. (OLMS, 4/5/07).
Kansas City, Mo. Secretary Sentenced for Making False Entries On March 22, Allison Cole, former office secretary for National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 30, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri to three years probation for making false entries in union records. She also was ordered to make restitution in the amount of $4,731.49. Cole had pleaded guilty last November. (OLMS, 4/5/07).