Carl Horowitz's blog

On January 28, Danny Tilley, former executive secretary-treasurer of the Texas State Building & Construction Trades Council, was sentenced in federal court to three years probation for embezzling $9,719.11 from the Austin-based AFL-CIO affiliate. He pleaded guilty in April. The sentencing follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

On January 28, Johnny Banes, formerly financial secretary of United Steelworkers of America Local 2401, was indicted in the Superior Court of Cobb County, Georgia on one count of theft of $38,329 in funds from the Mableton, Ga. union. The indictment follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

For almost two and a half years, Tammy Smith used her union as a cash dispensary. She now wishes she hadn't. On February 17, Smith, former secretary of International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 1922 in Billings, Montana, pleaded guilty in federal court to embezzling more than $11,000. Smith, 40, a resident of Billings, began working for the local in 2002. According to federal prosecutors from May 2004 until December 2006 Smith diverted dues payments into a personal bank account and wrote union checks to herself or to cash. At her May 19 sentencing, she faces a maximum five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

John Vinson isn't the only former local official within New York State's mammoth Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), an AFSCME affiliate, to be in recent trouble for embezzlement. Rank-and-file members no doubt hope he'll be the last. Vinson, president of CSEA Local 659, was arrested by state police on Wednesday, February 17, and charged with embezzling more than $70,000 from the Albany union. He was arraigned in Albany City Court and released on $10,000 bond.

The resignation of Edward Rodzwicz last November as president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) was almost inevitable. So, it seems, was his guilty plea. On Thursday, March 4, Rodzwicz pleaded guilty in St. Louis federal court to bribery and interstate travel for unlawful activity in relation to solicitations for bribery totaling $20,000. He had been indicted and arrested last fall at his home in Avon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, headquarters of BLET. He faces sentencing on June 3.

As a police officer, Gene Tomatani didn't have to be told that stealing from his union and his employer was illegal. At least now he's acknowledged as much. On February 10, Tomatani, a former officer with Redondo Beach, California police force, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court to embezzlement of more than $75,000, mainly from the local police officers association. Under the reported settlement, he will receive a sentence later this month of 90 days in jail, three years of probation, and one year at meetings of Gamblers Anonymous.

Blacks account for about 1.5 percent of all farm operators in this country - and apparently a lot higher share of the civil rights lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). On February 18, lawyers for the USDA and thousands of black farmers reached a $1.25 billion class-action agreement resolving, for now, claims that the department had engaged in willful racial discrimination in managing its loan and other aid programs.  Think you've seen this headline before? You have. Back in 1999, black farmers, armed with similar claims of racial bias, snagged a federal guarantee of $50,000 per plaintiff plus loan forgiveness and tax liability offsets.

On January 22, Gary Day, former field representative for Laborers International Union of North America Local 1180, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania with embezzling $10,827.50 from the Harrisburg local. The charge follows a probe by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

On January 21, Sonia McGuire, former treasurer of American Postal Workers Union Local 3434, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to five years probation, the first six months of which must be served in home detention, for embezzling funds from the Decatur, Ga. union. She also will have to pay $16,023.12 in restitution and a $100 special assessment. McGuire had pleaded guilty in November to embezzling funds in the same amount. The sentencing follows a probe by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

On January 21, Lisa Wright, former treasurer of the Transit Employees Union, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio with one count of embezzling $71,470.50 from the Bedford (suburban Cleveland) union. The charge follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.