Teresa Adkins got greedy. And she likely will get a prison sentence for her trouble. On February 16, Adkins, former business manager of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 127, was charged in Waupaca County, Wisconsin Circuit Court with one count of theft and nine counts of forgery in the disappearance of more than $35,000 in funds from the Clintonville, Wisc.-based union, and possibly a lot more. The complaint read: “…(T)he defendant utilized her position and access to union funds to appropriate various amounts of money for her own purposes ranging from reimbursing herself for underperformed services and using a union charge card for personal purchases for both goods and services.” The charges follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Adkins, now 46, a resident of Green Bay, served as business manager of International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 127 from April 2013 until her dismissal in February 2015. There was good reason for her departure. According to the Department of Labor, she made $22,451 worth of unauthorized charges on her union bank card during March-October 2014. In addition, she wrote herself $14,234 in unauthorized union checks, depositing them into an account in the name of her daughter. There likely was more. Union records show she had received an unauthorized $66,606 loan, the terms of repayment of which were unclear. By some amazing coincidence, that figure was identical to the “other compensation” listed on DOL records for the whole year of 2015. All this was on top of her $62,967 gross salary that year despite her removal in February. If Teresa Adkins takes her case to trial, she has serious explaining to do.