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Criminal Charges
Office of Labor-Management Enforcement
The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) conducts both civil and criminal investigations of alleged violations of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) and related laws.
These investigations by OLMS District Offices involve issues such as embezzlements of union funds, union officer elections, the filing of required reports by unions and others with OLMS, and the imposition of trusteeships over subordinate unions by a parent body. These investigations may result in legal enforcement actions.
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| March 17th, 2008 | On March 17, 2008, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, a criminal information was filed charging Zona Albritton, former Manager of General Services for AFSCME, with one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $75,446. The charge follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office. |
| May 27th, 2009 | On May 27, 2009, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Wendy Bentzen, former information/financial manager for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 72 (located in Jefferson City, Mo.), was sentenced to six months home detention and five years of supervision for the charge of bank fraud. Bentzen was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $32,256.60 and a $100 special assessment. On September 29, 2008, Bentzen pled guilty to one count of bank fraud.The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS St. Louis District Office. |
| September 29th, 2008 | On September 29, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Wendy Elaine Bentzen, former information/financial manager for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) State Council 72 (located in Jefferson City, Mo.) pled guilty to one count of bank fraud. The charge follows an investigation by the St. Louis District Office. |
| December 16th, 2008 | On December 16, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Sarah Crafts, former Office Manager of Texas Building and Construction Trades Council (located in Austin, Texas), was charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $27,197 and with one count of embezzlement of union funds in the amount of $17,478. The charge follows an investigation by the OLMS New Orleans District Office. |
| April 25th, 2002 | On April 25, 2002, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Joyce Griffin, former office secretary of the New Orleans Metal Trades Council, was charged in a one-count information with embezzling $2,383 in union funds. The charges were brought following an investigation by the OLMS New Orleans District Office. |
| August 1st, 2007 | On August 1, 2007, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Lorraine Payton, former President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, Veterans Administration Council, pled guilty to one count of mail fraud. On March 16, 2007, Payton was charged in a superseding indictment with mail fraud and false statements to a government agency. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the OLMS New Orleans District Office. |
| August 10th, 2006 | On August 10, 2006, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Lorraine Payton, former President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, Veterans Administration Council, was indicted on two counts of making false reports. The charges follow an investigation by the OLMS New Orleans District Office. |
| August 13th, 2003 | On August 13, 2003, in the Marion County (Indiana) Superior Court Criminal Division, Casey Stewart, the son of an officer of the Employees Protection Association, received a suspended sentence of 547 days for theft. He was placed on probation for one year. On April 10, 2003, Stewart was charged in a three-count indictment with two counts of forgery and one count of theft when he negotiated two union checks totaling $2,576; the forgery counts were dismissed following a plea agreement. The sentencing and charges follow an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office. [Related documents: HTML | PDF] |
| August 14th, 2002 | On August 14, 2002, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Joyce Griffin, former office secretary for the New Orleans Metal Trades Council, pled guilty to embezzling $2,383 in union funds. She admitted to charging personal items to the union's charge accounts and taking cash from the union's petty cash fund. She had been charged in a one-count information on April 25, 2002, following an investigation by the OLMS New Orleans District Office. |
| December 3rd, 2007 | On December 3, 2007, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Darren Johnson, former President of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 78, pled guilty to one count of bank robbery and incidental crimes. On November 16, 2007, Johnson was charged with stealing union funds in the amount of $4,756.75 that were within the care, custody, control, management, or possession of Comerica Bank. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Detroit District Office. |
| January 9th, 2003 | On January 9, 2003, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Norma J. Reedy, former treasurer of the Louisiana State American Postal Workers Union, was charged with embezzling $34,800 in union funds following an investigation by the OLMS New Orleans District Office. |
| July 13th, 2001 | On July 13, 2001, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Michele Terrell Spargur, former office secretary for Carpenters Locals 364 and 1124, pled guilty to two counts of embezzling a total of $29,673 in union funds and two counts of destroying union records. The charges were brought following an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office. |
| July 20th, 2010 | On July 20, 2010, in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska, Thomas Renkes, former Executive Director of the Alaska Nurses Association (AaNA) (located in Anchorage, Alaska), was sentenced to thirty-six months of probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $22,546 and a $2,000 fine. On April 26, 2010, Renkes was charged with embezzling union funds. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Seattle District Office. |
| May 29th, 2003 | On May 29, 2003, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Gene Malinowski, former business manager and secretary-treasurer of Boilermakers Local Lodge 1851, was indicted on one count of embezzlement and one count of aiding and abetting. The indictment was sealed until June 10, 2003 when Malinowski was arrested. The charges were brought following an investigation by the OLMS New Haven Resident Office. [Related documents: HTML | PDF] |
| November 22nd, 2002 | On November 22, 2002, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Chris Keith, former office manager of the Building and Construction Trades Council in Chattanooga, was charged in a one-count information with embezzling $28,092 in union funds following an investigation by the OLMS Nashville District Office. |
| November 30th, 2001 | On November 30, 2001, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Michelle Terrell Spargur, former bookkeeper/office secretary for Carpenters Locals 364 and 1124, was sentenced to ten months home confinement with electronic monitoring and five years probation and was ordered to make restitution to the locals of $29,673. The charges had been brought on July 13, 2001, following an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office. |
| October 17th, 2003 | On October 17, 2003, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, an information was filed against Sandra Briggs, former Treasurer of Letter Carriers Branch 378, charging her with one count of false recordkeeping. The charge follows an investigation by the OLMS Chicago District Office. |
| October 24th, 2008 | On October 24, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, Krista Yeatts, former office manager of Machinist Lodge 2444 (located in Winston-Salem, N.C.), pled guilty to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $47,746.01. On July 28, 2008, Yeatts was charged with one count of embezzling union funds in the same amount. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Nashville District Office. |
| October 25th, 2002 | On October 25, 2002, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Dana Moore, former office manager of the Carpenters Great Lakes Regional Industrial Council, was charged in a criminal complaint with embezzling approximately $20,000 in union funds. The charges were brought following an investigation by the OLMS Detroit District Office. |
| September 25th, 2003 | On September 25, 2003, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, James M. Duff, principal leader, organizer and manager of the Duff family business enterprise, and the following six individuals were indicted by federal grand jury on 30 counts of fraud, money laundering, and racketeering conspiracy: Patricia Green Duff, William Stratton, Terrence Dolan, Starling Alexander, John Leahy, and Edward Wisniewski. The indictment involves two alleged fraud schemes: one relating to more than $100 million in government and private contracts obtained by sham woman- and minority-owned businesses and the other relating to over $3 million in unpaid workers' compensation insurance premiums. All of the charges involve the activities of the Duff family businesses. The individuals were charged as follows: |