Arthur Penn headed a union that represents federal security employees. Unfortunately, he very likely created a good deal of economic insecurity for those employees. On November 6, Penn, who for more than a decade and a half was chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police’s Defense Protective Service Labor Committee Pentagon, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for embezzling nearly $400,000 from the union, which represents officers of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency. A grand jury had issued a seven-count indictment for wire fraud earlier that day. The charge follows a joint investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Penn, now 64, a resident of Quantico, Va., headed the Arlington, Va.-based union during 1999-2015. For much of that period, say federal prosecutors, he used his position as a license to steal. He diverted union funds to himself via cash transactions and then concealed these thefts by failing to file annual financial reports with the Department of Labor. In all, Penn stole a little over $384,000, using the money for such items as gambling, a trip to the Caribbean, and various day-to-day living expenses.