On June 10, Kristen Swint, former vice president and secretary treasurer of International Association of Machinists Inflight Aircraft Lodge 2339 in Cleveland, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to two years probation and ordered to pay $30,256 in restitution. Swint pled guilty in January to falsifying union records to cover up theft. The sentencing follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. (OLMS, 6/21/08).
Former Cleveland-Area President Sentenced for Embezzlement
On May 29, Francis Pagan, former president of Local 3-M of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to six months home confinement and four years probation, and ordered to pay restitution and a $100 special assessment. He pleaded guilty in February to embezzling funds from the East Cleveland, Ohio union in the amount of $17,415. (OLMS, 6/21/08).
Wife of Colorado Local Treasurer Charged with Theft, Forgery
On June 3, Kathleene Bigham, wife of former Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Local 779 Secretary-Treasurer Alfred Bigham, was charged in Seventh District Court of Carbon County, Utah, with theft of nearly $15,000 in union funds and three counts of forgery. Though the action was filed in Utah, presumably where Mrs. Bigham resides, the union itself is located in Grand Junction, Colorado. (OLMS, 6/21/08).
Ohio Local Financial Secretary Sentenced for Embezzlement
On June 16, Kurt Swanstrom, former financial secretary of United Steelworkers of America Local 5-1560, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to three years probation and ordered to pay $12,327.52 in restitution and a $150 special assessment for embezzlement. He pleaded guilty in March to embezzling funds from the Ashland, Ohio local, falsifying records and filing false financial reports with the U.S. Department of Labor. (OLMS, 6/21/08).
Ex-Treasurer of Northern Ohio Local Indicted for Theft
On June 10, Roxanne Eye, former treasurer of Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 339, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on one count of embezzlement of $9,296 in union funds. The local is based in Brook Park, a suburb of Cleveland. (OLMS, 6/21/08).
San Diego-Area President Sentenced for False Record-Keeping
On June 9, Donna Hammock, former president of Local 2096 of the National Federation of Federal Employees in El Cajon, Calif., was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to five years probation and ordered to pay a $2,500 fine for making false statements on the union’s annual financial reporting form. (OLMS, 6/21/08).
Nashville Local President Sentenced for False Record-Keeping
On May 22, Pauline M. Gibson, former president of Drivers, Warehousemen, Maintenance and Allied Workers of America Local 1, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, to twelve months probation and $25 assessment for knowingly making a false statement on the union’s annual financial report to the Labor Department. Gibson had pleaded guilty in February. (OLMS, 6/21/08).