Bricklayers (BAC)

Former Iowa Local Secretary-Treasurer Sentenced

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 01/30/2006 - 01:00

On December 20, Debra Herrig, formerly secretary-treasurer for American Postal Workers Local 2339, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa to three months imprisonment and two years of supervised release. She also will have to serve three months of home detention. Herrig pleaded guilty last March to one count of embezzling funds from the Dubuque local; she since has made restitution in the amount of $13,265.26. The sentencing follows an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. (OLMS, 1/25).

Former Iowa Secretary Sentenced for Embezzlement

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 06/06/2005 - 00:00

On May 12, Amanda Kemmer, ex-secretary for Bricklayers Local 3 in the Des Moines area, was given a 24-month prison sentence plus three years probation, and was ordered to pay full restitution for embezzling union funds. Kemmer pleaded guilty last December in federal court to stealing more than $209,000 over the period January 1997-April 2004. She’d pocketed about $175,000 of that by using a rubber stamp to write herself checks, and raked in the rest by altering pay stubs and pilfering cash. (OLMS, 5/27).

Ex- Ofc. Secy Admits Embezzlement in Iowa Federal Court

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 01/31/2005 - 01:00

The ex-office secy. for Local 3 of the Bricklayers Intl. Union pled guilty on Dec. 23 to embezzling over $200,000. Amanda Kemmer entered her plea in the U.S. Dist. Court for the Sou. Dist. of IA. She was employed as Local 3's ofc. secy. from June 1997 through April 2004. Kemmer had full responsibility for maintaining the local’s financial records including check stubs, disbursement and receipt ledgers, monthly financial reports and payroll records. She was also responsible for collecting dues and other receipts, issuing duplicate receipts, and making deposits.

Ex-Ofc. Mgr. Admits Embezzlement in Iowa Fed. Court

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 01/03/2005 - 01:00

The former office manager for a Des Moines-area bricklayers union pleaded guilty in federal court on Dec. 22 of embezzling more than $209,000 over several years. Amanda Kemmer, 38, admitted that she altered pay stubs to give herself nearly $18,000 in unauthorized salary and $2,576 in unearned pension contributions between January 1997 and April 2004. Kemmer said she also pocketed $14,217 in cash from union coffers, and she used a rubber stamp to write herself $174,714 in improper checks.

Mob Boss Gets Light Sentence Due to Lack of "Explicit" Threats

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 03/29/2004 - 01:00

N.Y. Sup. Ct. Justice Jeffrey Atlas sentenced Luchese crime family underboss Steven Crea to only 2-6 yrs. in prison on March 8. Prosecutors from the ofc. of Manhattan D.A. Robert Morgenthau had asked for sentence of 6-18 yrs. for Crea, who admitted that he helped the Luchese organization fix prices at 3 NYC construction sites and collecting "mob taxes" from unions and contractors.

Madison Square Garden Raided as State Police Investigate Union Corruption

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 02/16/2004 - 01:00

N.Y. state troopers raided Madison Square Garden (MSG) on Jan. 27, removing documents as well as cash from a private home. MSG officials kicked out several people -- Jim Arneman, the head of bldg. operations, chief electrician John O'Hara and chief stagehand Franklin DeSavino -- who were also suspended from their jobs. Law enforcement sources say that the investigation is focusing on possible no-show jobs arranged by the local affiliate of the Intl. Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees, and bid-rigging by officials of the electrical union. [New York Post, 2/12/04]

NY Crime Boss Sentenced for Extortion of Cash for Labor Peace

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 01/19/2004 - 01:00

Acting Lucchese crime family boss Steven Crea was sentenced on Jan. 8 to 34 mos. in fed. prison for extorting payments from Scalamandre Construction Co. in exchange for assurances of labor peace. He was sentenced by U.S. Dist. Judge Kimba Wood (S.D. NY, Reagan).

New York Brothers Admit to Mob and Union Payoffs

Submitted by David Kendrick on Mon, 11/24/2003 - 01:00

Guisseppe "Joseph" Scalamandre and his brother, Fortunato "Fred" Scalamandre pled guilty Nov. 14 to conspiring to make payoffs to the Luchese organized crime family and to the union boss of three locals in N.Y.C area. The two construction company owners were charged with conspiring between Jan. 1991 and Oct. 1998 to pay members of the Luchese organized crime family, including the former acting boss, Alphonse D'Arco, and former underboss, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, approximately $40,000 a year, in order to buy labor peace. They admitted agreeing to pay unidentified bosses and employees of Laborers' Int'l Union of N. Am. Local 66, Blasters, Miners & Drill Runners Union Local 29, and Int'l Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local 1 to avoid contributing to union benefit funds and paying union dues on behalf of their employees, and to unlawfully influence the bosses and employees in other union-related matters affecting their companies.

Ex-Nevada Union Boss Admits Falsification

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 10/13/2003 - 00:00

Daniel G. Bogden, U.S. Attny. for the Dist. of Nevada, announced that Timothy J. Egan, pled guilty on Sept. 22 Failure to Maintain Labor Union Records, a violation of Title 29, United States Code, Section 439(a), and False Statements and Omissions of Material Facts in Labor Union Reports, a violation of Title 29, United States Code, Section 439(b).

From approximately January 1998 through March 2000, Egan served as a business manager and Secy.-Treasurer for the Bricklayers and Allied Crafts Local 3 Union (BAC Local 3) in Las Vegas. During that period, Egan failed to maintain financial records documenting, among other things, his personal use of the cash union dues he collected from members as well as his personal use of the union credit cards. Egan also failed to disclose these matters on annual reports submitted to the Department of Labor.

Ex-Treasurer Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement in Minn. Court

Submitted by David Kendrick on Mon, 03/03/2003 - 01:00

Cheryl Raas pled guilty on Feb. 14 to using her frmr. position as a union treasurer to write $10,800 in union checks to herself. According to a criminal complaint filed in the Ramsey County Court, two officials of Local 22 of the Amer. Fedtn. Of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) confronted Raas last July after they discovered that only $400 remained in the union's checking acct.

Raas admitted to the theft, claiming that she took the money to pay for cancer treatments. But Local officials said she never appeared sick or claimed any sick leave, and St. Paul police officers questioning her said that Raas was vague when asked about her health. The 11 checks police identified were paid to the owner of her apartment and a rental-car company. Ramsey County Dist. Judge David Higgs is scheduled to sentence Raas on March 3. [Minneapolis Star Tribune 2/15/03]