Postal Workers Treasurer in New Jersey Sentenced for Thefts

APWU logoOn May 24, John McGovern, former secretary-treasurer of American Postal Workers Union Local 190, was sentenced in Newark, New Jersey federal court to 20 months in prison to be followed by 36 months of supervised release. He had pleaded guilty in November 2010 to conspiring with ex-local President Gary Weightman to embezzle some $200,000 in funds from the Clifton, N.J.-based union during 2000-02 and concealing the thefts by destroying financial records. McGovern, 55, a resident of Hawthorne, N.J., stole an estimated $140,000, and was ordered to pay $783,931 in total restitution. Weightman pleaded guilty to a separate tax evasion charge in December 2008 and is awaiting sentencing. Each had been indicted in February 2006 following a joint investigation by the Labor Department, the Justice Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.