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Criminal Convictions

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
January 5th, 2011	On January 5, 2011, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Wayne Mitchell, former President of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 14170 (located in New York, N.Y.), the union representing mail room employees in the New York newspaper industry, was sentenced to two years in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release for violation of 29 U.S.C. 501(c). Mitchell was also ordered to pay restitution of $373,555. The sentencing brings to a conclusion an investigation in which the trustee, Larry DeAngelis, who was appointed to manage the unions financial affairs in the aftermath of this embezzlement, was also convicted in a scheme to fraudulently obtain reimbursement for expenses that he, in fact, did not incur. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS New York District Office.
April 1st, 2009	On April 1, 2009, in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, Thomas James Martin, former Business Manager of Plumbers Local 15 (located in Minneapolis, Minn.), was denied his request for an exemption from the LMRDA Section 504 prohibition against persons convicted of certain crimes holding union office.On April 1, 2003, Martin was convicted of mail fraud and theft from a labor organization.On May 2, 2003, the Department of Labor informed Martin of his prohibition from serving as a union official for a period of 13 years. The case follows an investigation by the OLMS Minneapolis Resident Investigator Office.
April 1st, 2009	On April 1, 2009, in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, Thomas James Martin, former Business Manager of Plumbers Local 15 (located in Minneapolis, Minn.), was denied his request for an exemption from the LMRDA Section 504 prohibition against persons convicted of certain crimes holding union office.On April 1, 2003, Martin was convicted of mail fraud and theft from a labor organization.On May 2, 2003, the Department of Labor informed Martin of his prohibition from serving as a union official for a period of 13 years. The case follows an investigation by the OLMS Minneapolis Resident Investigator Office.
June 16th, 2008	On June 16, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Central District of Utah, Trace L. Reynolds, former office manager of IBEW Local 354 (located in West Valley City, Utah), was convicted and sentenced on one count of falsification of an annual financial report filed by a labor union. Reynolds was sentenced to one year of probation. Reynolds had previously made restitution in the amount of $10,698. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Denver District Office.
April 14th, 2006	On April 14, 2006, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, William Van Sickle, former Secretary-Treasurer for AFSCME Local 725, was sentenced to six months community confinement and five years probation. In addition, Van Sickle was ordered to pay $23,645 in restitution and a $100 assessment and is prohibited from opening new lines of credit or acting as a fiduciary without Federal Probation permission. Van Sickle previously paid approximately $40,000 in restitution prior to his conviction. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office.
February 16th, 2006	On February 16, 2006, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Marcia Huizenga, former bookkeeper and office manager for Teamsters Local 822, was sentenced to three months in prison, followed by five months of home detention and three years of supervised probation. Huizenga was also ordered to pay full restitution. On November 4, 2005, Huizenga pled guilty to one count of embezzling $47,131 in union funds. The conviction follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office.
October 20th, 2005	On October 20, 2005, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Terrance Dolan, former Operations Manager for Windy City Maintenance, pled guilty to 11 counts of mail fraud. Windy City Maintenance, a Duff family owned business, had falsely maintained to the City of Chicago that it was a woman-owned business. Earlier in the year, James Duff and William Stratton, former Vice President and Business Agent, respectively, of Liquor and Allied Workers Union, Local 3, were convicted for their roles in the scheme. The guilty plea follows a joint investigation by the OLMS Chicago District Office, the FBI, the IRS, and the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General.
May 20th, 2005	On May 20, 2005, William E. Stratton, a long-time friend and associate of the Duff family, and an employee for over 18 years of Local 3, Liquor Distributors Union (a union managed by members of the Duff family), was sentenced to five years and ten months incarceration and three years of supervised release. Stratton was ordered to be jointly and severally liable with co-defendant James M. Duff for restitution to the City of Chicago in the amount of $7,370,379. Stratton was ordered to forfeit $525,932 in salary he earned as the minority figurehead of Remedial Environmental Manpower and he was ordered to pay a special assessment of $1,100. On February 24, 2005, Stratton was convicted of the charges. [Related documents: HTML \| PDF]
July 1st, 2004	On July 1, 2004, in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, Robert Mayhew, former business manager of IBEW Local 415, was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. Mayhew pled guilty to a one count information charging him with causing a plan administrator to fail to include certain transactions in the plan's annual report. The charges resulted from the investigation into the collapse of Capital Consultants, LLC. The conviction follows an investigation by the OLMS Seattle District Office, the FBI, the IRS, and the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General and the Employee Benefits Security Administration. [Related documents: HTML \|PDF]
November 25th, 2002	On November 25, 2002, in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, Thomas Martin, former business manager of Plumbers Local 15, pled guilty to one count of embezzling approximately $3,175 from Local 15 by using Local 15 funds to pay for plumbing work for an unnamed public official and one count of mail fraud in connection with the mailing of a Local 15 check to a contractor to pay for $2,700 in free plumbing work performed at a property owned by former Minneapolis City Councilman Joseph Biernat. Martin was named in an indictment on April 17, 2002, a superceding indictment on May 21, 2002, and a superceding indictment on October 16, 2002. Councilman Biernat was convicted of embezzlement, mail fraud, and making a false statement on November 21, 2002. The charges were brought following a joint investigation by the OLMS Minneapolis Resident Investigator Office and the FBI.