United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBC)

Colin Rehrig insists he's a law-abiding citizen. A federal court in Philadelphia believes otherwise. On September 27, Rehrig, former bookkeeper for United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 600, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to eight months of home confinement, plus two years of probation, for embezzling more than $30,000 from the Bethlehem, Pa.-based union. He also was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and a $100 special assessment. Rehrig had pleaded guilty in June after being charged in March.

On May 13, Michael Doggett, former business manager, training program director and secretary-treasurer of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 502, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to five months in prison, 150 days home detention and three years supervised release for embezzling from the union's Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee Fund. He also will have to make restitution in the amount of $39,324. The union is based in Orange, Texas, in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area. Doggett had been indicted last September and pleaded guilty this January. The actions follow a joint investigation by the FBI and the Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration and Office of Labor-Management Standards.

On June 23, Brenda Olson, former office secretary for United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 851, was sentenced in Anoka County (Minn.) District Court to 60 days in jail, with the option of home monitoring and work release, and five years probation for embezzling funds from the Anoka-based union. She also will have to pay $7,310 in restitution. Olson pleaded guilty on May 5 after being charged last December with stealing more than $19,000. The sentencing follows an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

Corrupt construction union officials in the New York City area knew they had no better friend than Joseph Olivieri. That relationship formally ended last October when a jury in Manhattan federal court declared him guilty of perjury as part of a scheme to line union bosses' pockets with would-be benefit contributions. Last Friday, June 3, Olivieri, the former head of a Long Island-based construction trade association, received his reward: an 18-month prison sentence plus three years of supervised release. He was one of 10 defendants convicted in the case and the eighth to be sentenced, though he was the only one to go to trial. Olivieri also will have to pay a $10,000 fine.