When it comes to embezzling union funds, third-party administrators can be as adept as union officials themselves. And thefts can go undetected for years. Just ask Painters union members in Hawaii. On January 27, Raymond Fujii, former executive director for a trade group, the Painting & Decorating Contractors Association of …
Carl Horowitz
Postal Workers Official in Texas Charged with Records Fraud
On January 27, Nereida Norris, clerk craft director of American Postal Workers Union Local 98, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas with making a false statement in financial records of the Fort Worth-based union. The charge follows an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office …
NLRB Sides with Unions in Targeting Employee Handbooks
Orientation is a challenging time at a workplace. New hires find themselves having to learn a lot in a short time. That’s why their employers provide them with handbooks explaining the rules and addressing potential questions about them. Unions, however, see these pamphlets as thinly-veiled attempts to suppress worker organizing …
Ex-Treasurer of Laborers Local in Arizona Pleads Guilty
On January 22, Therlen Benally, former treasurer of Laborers International Union of North America Local 1386, pleaded guilty in Maricopa County (Phoenix) Superior Court to theft, identity theft and forgery after being charged in a 29-count indictment last October. Anne Susan, former business manager of the Phoenix-based local, had …
Chicago-Area Doctor Sentenced for $3.7M+ Fraud; Union Health Plans Affected
Medical insurance fraud is one of America’s leading growth industries. And doctors are prominent among those getting fat and rich. Looking on the bright side, some of them also get caught and punished. Last August 28, Dr. Robert Kolbusz, a Chicago-area dermatologist, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the …
Chicago-Area Iron Workers Local Bookkeeper Sentenced
On January 20, Michelle Misso, former bookkeeper for Iron Workers Local 63, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to three months in prison and one year of supervision for making false entries in records of the Westchester (Cook County), Ill. union to conceal her …
Kansas City, Mo. AFSCME Boss Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement
Lowell Wreh headed a union that represented jail workers. Now he faces the possibility of being an inmate. On January 20, Wreh, former president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1707, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for …
Postal Workers President in Michigan Pleads Guilty to Records Fraud
On January 19, Jesus Gonzales, former president of American Postal Workers Union Local 300, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan to making false entries in financial records of the Lansing-based union. Gonzales had been charged in August with embezzling $6,720 and then concealing the …
IRB Charges Northern California Teamster Boss with Corruption
When the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Justice Department agreed last January to replace the tight government oversight established over 25 years earlier with union self-regulation, the terms called for phasing out the federal role over five years rather than lifting it all at once. Dues-paying members may be …
Letter Carriers Local Secretary-Treasurer in Missouri Indicted
On January 27, John McCain, former secretary-treasurer of National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 1016, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on one count of embezzlement of $30,948 in funds from the Poplar Bluff, Mo. union. The indictment follows an investigation by the U.S. …