New Jersey IBEW Secretary-Treasurer, Steward Charged with Theft

IBEW logoTwo top officials at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 827 believed that they could get away with claiming hours for work not done. It turned out to be a bad guess. That’s why they’re former officials. On July 8, Robert Garris, former chief shop steward for the East Windsor Township (Mercer County), N.J.-based union, was charged in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Passaic County, with theft by deception in the sum of $25,960 for submission of false time claims. Nine days later, on July 17, in the same court, Jason D’Errico, the union’s former secretary-treasurer, was charged with time claim theft in the amount of $58,954 and purchase of a vehicle with funds belonging to the Passaic County Labor Board. The charges in each case follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.