On September 19, Toni Lancaster, former office manager for Millrights & Machine Erectors Local 711, an affiliate of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon to embezzling funds from the Portland union. Lancaster, a resident of the Portland suburb of Milwaukie, had been indicted in March 2010 for thefts totaling about $68,000. At the time, she pleaded not guilty. Sentencing is set for this January. The indictment and guilty plea follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Embezzlement, or at least its detection, is catching lately in Oregon's labor organizations. Toni Lancaster is yet another casualty. The ex-office manager for United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 711 in Portland, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon for embezzling some $68,000 from her union. Federal prosecutors charge that Lancaster, 40, a resident of the Portland-area community of Milwaukie, wrote unauthorized union checks to herself and falsified financial records to conceal the thefts. She pleaded not guilty and faces trial on June 1. The indictment follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
