Union Officials Working To Line Their Own Pockets

One of the main themes of my blog posts is, that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely!
Unlike the title of my blog would suggest, Union Officials are much more concerned with taking care of themselves...
On April 30, Dennis P. Harper, former branch president of National Postal Mail Handlers Local 304, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to three years probation, including three months house arrest, for embezzling $2,543.10 in union funds. He also was ordered to make restitution in that amount. Harper was convicted in December.
On April 4, Ronald Schweitzer, former president of Local 1967 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on one count of embezzling union funds during 2002-05 in the amount of $58,305.30.
On March 15, Deborah Walters, former president of Local 11, Chapter 8330, of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, pled guilty in federal court for the Southern District of Ohio to embezzling more than $10,000 in union funds. She had been charged last October with one count of embezzlement and five counts of falsifying union records. Chapter 8330 represents employees of Warren Correctional Institution.
On February 16, Michael Griffie, an electrical contractor, was sentenced in Hamilton County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, to one year of community service. He’d been charged last March with aggravated theft of property or services worth $100,000 or more from IBEW Local 212. He also was charged with tampering with, and forging, market recovery fund forms, with the intent of defrauding the local. Two women involved in the case, Rachetta Johnson and Charlene Monroe, were sentenced last September. The actions follow an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards
On January 24, Russell Liming, former business manager and financial secretary for Sheet Metal Workers Local 183, was sentenced in federal court for the Southern District of Ohio to one week of imprisonment followed by three years of probation for bank fraud. He had claimed on a loan application to be acting on behalf of the local, and subsequently used the proceeds for personal purposes. He also will have to make $2,421 in restitution to Franklin Savings & Loan, and pay a $250 fine and a $100 special assessment. Liming pleaded guilty in October.
On December 18, Boni Segura, formerly secretary for Local 18 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to five years probation and ordered to make $5,548.98 in immediate restitution to the Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland. She pleaded in August to one count of embezzling more than $5,700 in funds from the Cleveland-based union.
On December 7, Nanette Peterson, former treasurer for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 11, Chapter 2597, was sentenced in federal court for the Southern District of Ohio to three years probation and 100 hours of community service, and ordered to make restitution to the local in the amount of $5,409.29 within 30 days. She had pleaded guilty in August to embezzling more than $6,300 in funds from the union, which represents corrections facility employees in the central part of the state.
On October 5, Jereika Ward, ex-treasurer for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 998, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to three years probation with six months of home detention for embezzling $46,708.97 from the union. Of that sum, she will have to make $24,118.97 in restitution. She had pleaded guilty in July to embezzlement and filing a false report.
On August 4, Peggy Sue Carnes, former financial secretary-treasurer for Local 5-621 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to two years probation and three years home confinement, and ordered to pay $8,019.73 in restitution, the amount of union funds she had embezzled. She pleaded guilty back in May.
I only went back a few months in my research, if you want a complete list, visit: http://www.nlpc.org/statindx.asp#ohio