On September 29, Harry Small, former secretary-treasurer of Local 9-9506 of the United Steelworkers, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama for embezzling funds in the amount of $13,100 from the Bynum, Ala.-based union. He then was sentenced to three years probation, including one year of home detention, and ordered to pay $25,420 in restitution and a $300 special assessment. Small, a resident of Oxford, Ala., had been indicted in April for embezzling a dozen union checks worth a combined $25,820 during August 2008-February 2009. A little over two weeks later, on October 14, Dennis McGee, former president of the union, pleaded guilty to embezzling $1,950 in local funds. He then was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $7,600 in restitution plus a $300 special assessment. McGee had been indicted in April for embezzlement of about $8,200. The guilty pleas and sentences follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
