On December 6, Salvatore Zagra, former treasurer of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1959, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota on two counts of fraud related to his obtaining bank funds to execute a real estate transaction. He allegedly cashed checks from an account of the Watertown, S.D.-based union and diverted the funds to his own personal use. The charges follow a joint investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards, and the Office of Inspector General of both the Department of Energy and General Services Administration.
Postscript: As part of a subsequent plea bargain, Zagra pleaded guilty to government theft and paid full restitution plus a fine. In return, the prosecution dropped the fraud charges.