On August 1, Terri Dunkelberger, former financial secretary-treasurer of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1356, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota to two years probation and ordered to pay $11,848.98 in restitution to the Sioux Falls-based local. She was indicted in March for embezzling more than $4,000 in union funds on top of her indictment last June for theft of more than $24,000. Dunkelberger, 53, a resident of Tea, S.D., pleaded guilty this past April to stealing $11,648.98. ATU Local 1356 represents Sioux Falls Transit employees. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On June 21, Donald Kotouch, former president and business agent of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1738 in Latrobe, Pa., pleaded guilty in Pittsburgh federal court to embezzling $18,806.27 and submitting false financial records to conceal his thefts. During 2005-09, stated federal prosecutors, Kotouch, 52, a resident of Latrobe, diverted funds from the local to pay for non-business items such as office rent and membership expenses. He is set for sentencing on November 4. The guilty plea follows a probe by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Donald Kotouch Jr.
For someone who ripped off more than a quarter-million dollars, Thomas Pokrywczynski could have had things worse. On August 5, the former secretary-treasurer of Local 1342 of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and treasurer of the ATU's New York State Legislative Conference Board was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York to two years in prison and three years supervised release for embezzling a combined $254,000 from the two labor organizations. He had pleaded guilty in February of this year after being indicted in August 2009 for theft of $277,548.72.
On July 8, Joseph Moon, former president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1626, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to five years supervised probation for obtaining $14,931 in unapproved loans from the union checking account. He also will have to make restitution to the Edison, N.J.-based local in the amount of $14,285 and pay a $25 fine. He had pleaded guilty in September 2009. The sentencing follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Terri Lou Dunkelberger
Milton Smith is headed for prison. And his sentencing marks the conclusion of a Mafia-backed scheme dating back to the mid-Nineties that used members of a bus drivers union to steal from the New York City school system and affiliated contractors. On February 11, Smith, a former city bus inspector, received a sentence of 15 months in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for extortion and bribe-taking. The actions were in relation to a federally-subsidized special education program. He also will have to serve three years of supervised release and pay $21,000 in restitution. The maypole of the scam, Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, since has undergone a leadership change following a trusteeship imposed by union headquarters.
Handling union funds had its perks for Thomas Pokrywczynski. And those perks weren't necessarily legal. Pokrywczynski, formerly secretary-treasurer of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1342 and treasurer of the ATU's New York State Legislative Conference Board, 
On December 11, Bobby Earl Williams, former president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1635, pleaded guilty in Dallas County, Texas Criminal District Court to check forgery from the Dallas-based union. He then was sentenced to 12 months deferred probation, and ordered to pay $75 in restitution, a $1,000 fine, $194 in court costs and a $175 donation to a nonprofit group in lieu of community service. In September, his wife, Janice Muriel Williams, pleaded guilty to the same offense. Both actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
