For three years Jeffrey Kenney used his union local as a private bank. Those days are now over. On February 2, a Cleveland federal grand jury announced it had indicted Kenney, formerly secretary-treasurer of Graphic Communications International Union Local 205-C in Youngstown, on charges of embezzling $14,388. The indictment also charges that Kenney filed a false financial report for 2004 with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on which he knowingly understated the sum of disbursements by nearly $6,000.
Federal prosecutors allege Kenney, a resident of Youngstown, during the period February 9, 2003-March 1, 2006 stole funds from the local, which represents print shop employees in the Youngstown, Ohio and New Castle, Pa. areas. A telephone receptionist at the union hall had no comment. The Graphic Communications union merged with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters a little over five years ago and since then formally has been known as the Graphic Communications Conference. The indictment follows a probe by DOL’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.