On May 13, Elizabeth Branca, former business manager for Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 12, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to two years of probation, and ordered to pay full restitution plus a $100 fine, for embezzling $16,546 in funds from the Roseville, Minn.-based union. She had been charged and pleaded guilty last December. Two days later, on May 15, Laurie Hoffman, a former bookkeeper for the local, was sentenced to two years of probation, and ordered to pay $8,909 in restitution and a $100 fine, for embezzling funds. She also had been charged and pleaded guilty in December. The actions in each case follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
