Carl Horowitz

Timing is everything. Two days ago, April 24, Ray C. Ventrone, former business manager of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 154, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in an information with one count of embezzlement of nearly $1.5 million in funds from the Pittsburgh union and five counts of income tax evasion. He plans to plead guilty. Back in April 2015, various news sources had revealed that Ventrone and possibly other local officers were under investigation for spending irregularities. The charges, the result of a joint FBI, IRS and Labor Department probe, follows revelations earlier this month that IBB officials at Kansas City, Kan. headquarters are continuing to spend recklessly despite similar evidence published five years earlier.

Boilermakers Local 154 represents about 2,000 welders, pipefitters and other construction workers in the Pittsburgh area. Like its parent union, as Union Corruption Update has described, dues-paying … Read More ➡

As if he didn’t have enough problems, David Sager has something new to worry about. On April 4, Sager, former president of United Steelworkers Local 5000, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on three counts of filing false tax returns. The charges grew out of income he allegedly had derived from diverting funds from the Cleveland-area union to his own personal use. He had been indicted last September on nine counts of embezzlement, 18 counts of mail fraud, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of making a false statement. All the charges follow a joint investigation by the IRS and the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

United Steelworkers Local 5000, based in Middleburg, Ohio, represents about 100 employees of various Great Lakes shipping companies. David Sager headed the union from 1999 until last April. There was a good reason … Read More ➡

On April 5, Andrew Thibodeau, former secretary-treasurer of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local Lodge 1433, was charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in a one-count information with embezzling more than $70,000 in funds from the Kensington-based union. He then pleaded guilty. The actions follow an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and Office of Inspector General.… Read More ➡

On March 29, Fenna Saylors, former treasurer of National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 378, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana to one count of embezzling $16,647 in funds from the Marion, Ind. union. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

On March 29, Scot McNamara, former financial secretary for International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to four months of house arrest and two years of probation for embezzling $8,871 in funds from the St. Paul union. He also was ordered to pay full restitution, plus a $3,000 fine, a $100 special assessment and a $4,000 reimbursement to the Treasury Department for the cost of legal representation. McNamara pled guilty last December after being charged in July. Former local business manager Keith Christopherson also had been convicted of embezzlement in that case. The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

On March 29, William Dixon, former secretary-treasurer of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 2014, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia to two years of probation for embezzling funds from the Lebanon, Va.-based union. He also was ordered to pay $3,408 in restitution on top of the $930 he already paid. Dixon had pleaded guilty last December immediately following his being charged. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

On March 27, Michael Schofield, former secretary-treasurer of Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Local 1046, was sentenced to eight months in prison and one year of supervised release for making false entries in financial records of the Plainfield, Ill.-based union for the purpose of concealing unauthorized loans totaling $31,850. He also was ordered to pay $30,641 in restitution and a $25 fine. Schofield had filed an amended plea this January following a one-count information and an original plea last June. The actions follow an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

For more than two years, Edward Padilla used his union for personal spending. He’s now likely to spend time in prison. On March 27, Padilla, former secretary-treasurer and business manager for Laborers International Union of North America Local 220, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California to one count of embezzlement in the sum of $168,780 from the Bakersfield construction union. As part of his plea, Padilla agreed to make full restitution. He had been charged on March 3. Sentencing is set for July 10. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

According to prosecutors, Padilla, now 56, a resident of Bakersfield, during September 2012-December 2014 wrote unauthorized checks from a union account that were rubber-stamped with the president’s signature; used two union-issued credit cards to make more than 200 personal purchases; and obtained reimbursements for unauthorized sick … Read More ➡

On March 27, Casey Cortese, former president of Association of Civilian Technicians Chapter 108, was indicted in the Superior Court of Pierce County, Wash., on one count of theft of funds from the Lakewood (Tacoma area) union in an amount of more than $27,000. The charge follows an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡