An ample salary wasn’t enough for Rodney Capello. On July 15, Capello, former business manager and secretary-treasurer of Hawaii Electrical Workers Division of Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 722, was charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii with embezzling nearly $200,000 in funds from the Honolulu-based union. The charge follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Capello’s annual salary in recent years had exceeded $200,000. But he wanted more, and apparently didn’t have to look far to find it. According to prosecutors, Capello, from around February 2013 to around March 2016, “did knowingly embezzle and convert to his own use monies and funds of the Union in the approximate amount of $184,771.98.” As such, prosecutors plan to seek restitution of defendant assets in the event of a conviction. The union since has been placed under trusteeship by LIUNA headquarters after running into difficulties not unrelated to the thefts.