Jeffrey Magelitz managed the finances of a union representing prison employees. Now he may wind up one of its inmates. On November 18, Magelitz, former treasurer of Local 415 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois for embezzlement and theft, and for concealment of these acts in a union financial report. The indictment follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Magelitz, 44, a resident of Chester (Randolph County), Ill., served as treasurer of AFSCME Local 415 during January 2012-June 2013. Prosecutors charge that this was enough time for him to have embezzled $30,811.96 in funds from the union, which represents employees at the Vienna Correction Center in Vienna (Johnson County), Ill. Moreover, he allegedly prepared and cashed unauthorized union checks for himself, forging the signatures of the local president and vice president. To conceal the thefts, Magelitz also allegedly falsified numbers in the union’s annual report to the Labor Department and forged the president’s signature. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of up to six months, a fine of up to $350,000, and supervised release of up to three years.