At least Darrell Pendergrass knows he’s done wrong. The former president of Local 699 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees pleaded guilty in federal court in Abingdon, Va. on April 4 to embezzling union funds and attempting to evade payroll taxes. During his tenure as president and secretary of the photographers’ union during 2003-06, prosecutors charged, Pendergrass, a resident of Bristol, Va., diverted more than $70,000 from the union toward personal use and payroll tax evasion. Yet hopefully the court will show leniency come sentencing on July 29. He’s already given the court around $50,000 toward potential restitution. IATSE Local 699 is based in the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol area in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia. (Bristol, Virginia Herald Courier, 4/10/08).
Former General Services Manager Charged with Embezzlement
For more than seven years, John McNamee, Jr. avoided getting caught. Then reality caught up. On February 15, McNamee, formerly president and secretary-treasurer of Stage and Picture Operators Local 829, an affiliate of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), 
Paul Wyatt's personal trauma was real. Unfortunately, so were his acts of theft. Wyatt, formerly president and business manager of Stage and Picture Operators Local 220, was sentenced in federal court on September 13 to six months in prison, plus six months of home confinement and three months of probation, for embezzling more than $35,000 from the Sioux Falls-based union. He also will have to make full restitution. Wyatt originally pleaded not guilty this May, but changed his plea to guilty.
If Broadway shows have gotten unusually expensive, one major reason is the dominant presence of 
Paul Wyatt believes he's innocent. But his prospects for acquittal don't look good. On May 12, Wyatt, formerly president and business manager of the Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Stage and Picture Operators Local 220, pleaded not guilty in federal court after being charged with embezzling about $35,000 from the union, an affiliate of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). Prosecutors allege the thefts occurred during January 2008-August 2009. Wyatt, 48, a resident of Sioux Falls, was released on bond. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
On July 31, Stephen J. Pfeiffer, former secretary-treasurer of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 60 in Pensacola, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida to 13 months in prison, which would run consecutively to an as-yet imposed state sentence, and three years probation for embezzlement. He also will have to pay restitution in the amount of $6,824.30 and a $100 special assessment. Pfeiffer pleaded guilty in May to embezzling $12,051 in union funds. The sentence follows a joint investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Inspector General and Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On May 13, Steve Pfeiffer, former secretary-treasurer of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 60, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida to embezzlement of $12,051 from the Pensacola union. The guilty plea follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards. (OLMS, 6/15/09).
