Ivar Carlson apparently pushed his luck too long. On March 26, Carlson, former business agent and treasurer of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local B-935, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to one count of embezzling funds from the now-defunct Worcester union in the sum of $37,014. He had been arrested and charged in December following an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
IATSE Local B-935 represented about 30 workers at the DCU Center in downtown Worcester. With Ivar Carlson handling their dues money, those workers were ripped off. Court records indicate that Carlson, 58, a resident of Auburn, Mass., during March 2007-September 2016 used his positions to write checks from the union bank account, cash the checks, and use the funds for unauthorized purposes. Eventually, the Department of Labor traced the shortfall of funds to Carlson and referred the case to the Justice Department. IATSE placed the local under trusteeship in November 2016 and eventually dissolved it. Carlson faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.