Don Padgett ran the finances of a correctional employees union. Now he's likely to wind up as one of their inmates. On May 1, the former secretary-treasurer for American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 1304, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of mail fraud in the amount of $186,997. Padgett, 39, a resident of Granite City, Illinois, during November 2001-May 2008 wrote unauthorized union checks to himself, made unauthorized use of the union's credit card, and covered up the offenses on U.S. Labor Department financial reporting forms. He faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing in September. AFGE Local 1304 represents officers at the federal correctional facility in Greenville, Ill., east of St. Louis. (KSDK-TV, 5/1/09; St. Louis Business Journal, 5/1/09).
Richard Vincent
On August 13, LaRose Elsezy, former administrative assistant and bookkeeper for Local 1923 of the American Federation of Government Employees, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to six months home confinement and three years probation for one count of theft. Elsezy, who pleaded guilty in June, also was ordered to pay restitution to the Baltimore union in the amount of $44,316.58. AFGE Local 1923 represents employees of the Social Security Administration.
On June 11, Monica Smalls, former treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2209, was sentenced in Montgomery County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas to five years probation for theft of union funds. Indicted in April, she pleaded guilty in May following an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards. Smalls also will have to pay restitution in the amount of $3,790. The local represents employees at the VA Hospital in Dayton.
On April 10, Monica Smalls, former treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2209 in Dayton, Ohio, was charged in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas with theft of $500 or more. The charge follows an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards. AFGE Local 2209 represents employees at the VA Medical Center in Dayton. (OLMS, 5/22/09).
On April 7, La Rose Elsezy, former administrative assistant and bookkeeper of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1923 in Baltimore, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on one count each of theft and aiding & abetting. Elsezy allegedly cashed unauthorized checks from the 7,000-member union's bank account, forged signatures, and made false entries in financial records. The indictment follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards. (OLMS, 5/22/09).
