Terry Doan is a perfect example of why a union official should not be trusted with disbursing funds without the approval of at least one other fellow official. The union now has found out the hard way. On November 13, Doan, secretary-treasurer and a trustee of the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee of Heat & Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 84, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on one count of embezzling nearly $200,000 from the training fund over a five-year period. Local 84 is based in Kent, Ohio. The indictment follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.
According to prosecutors, Doan, now 60, a resident of Deerfield (Portage County), Ohio, back in 2012 used his positions to rescind a requirement that training fund checks above a certain amount have the signature of two trustees. That move gave him carte blanche to steal. And steal he did. During 2012-17, he embezzled a grand total of $195,147. The pilferage ended when the Department of Labor, apparently having been tipped off, launched a probe. It’s a fair bet that the trustees of the fund are planning to put in place stricter financial controls.