Scott Gehringer and Alex Margaritis served less than a year as leaders of their local. But that was long enough to steal from their union – and pay the consequences. The pair on February 26 was sentenced in U.S. District Court Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for aiding and abetting embezzlement. Gehringer and Margaritis, respectively, had been the former president and financial secretary of International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers Local 594, located in Bethlehem. Each pleaded guilty back in September.
Gehringer and Margaritis served as union officials during July 2005-May 2006. Federal prosecutors charged they had made unauthorized withdrawals from the union checking account over several months under the guise of receiving loans, salary advances and Christmas bonuses. Gehringer received a sentence of three years supervised probation, including two months home confinement, and was ordered to pay a $100 assessment on top of the $347 restitution payment he’d made earlier. Margaritis received four months supervised probation, including two months home confinement, and was ordered to pay an additional $1,320.79 in restitution and a special assessment of $100 on top of his already-paid $12,000 restitution. The sentences follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. (OLMS, 3/23/09).