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Guilty Pleas
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 |
|---|---|
| February 11th, 2011 | On February 11, 2011, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Frank Kmiec, former Secretary-Treasurer of Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) Local 2857 (located in Genoa City, Wis.), was sentenced to one year probation with the first six months served in home confinement with electronic monitoring. He was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $25. On November 22, 2010, Kmiec pled guilty to making false entries in the locals cash record book, check register, and quarterly audit reports thereby misrepresenting the balance of the locals bank account. In pleading guilty, Kmiec admitted to embezzling approximately $19,461.39 in Local 2857 funds. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Chicago District Office. |
| November 22nd, 2010 | On November 22, 2010, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Frank Kmiec, former Secretary-Treasurer of Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) Local 2857 (located in Genoa City, Wis.), pled guilty to making false entries in the locals cash record book, check register, and quarterly audit reports thereby misrepresenting the balance of the locals bank account. In pleading guilty, Kmiec admitted to embezzling approximately $19,461.39 in Local 2857 funds. An information was previously filed on November 2, 2010. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Chicago District Office. |
| November 2nd, 2010 | On November 2, 2010, in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, Fidel Garza, former President of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2063 (located in Albuquerque, NM), was sentenced to four months in prison, three years of supervised probation, and four months of home confinement, and he was ordered to make restitution in the amount of $77,457.89 and pay a $100 special assessment. Garza was also ordered to participate in a substance abuse program and barred from holding any position where he has fiduciary responsibility. Garza pled guilty to one count of 18 U.S.C. 1343 (wire fraud). The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Denver District Office. |
| June 8th, 2010 | On June 8, 2010, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Kathy Oatman, former Secretary-Treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 228 (located in Eau Claire, Wis.), pled guilty to one count of embezzling union funds in excess of $4,000. As part of her plea, Oatman will make restitution in the amount of $4,662. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Minneapolis Resident Office. |
| February 2nd, 2010 | On February 2, 2010, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Donald Spell, former employee of UNITE-HERE Local 12 (located in Cincinnati, Ohio) was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay $16,422.83 in restitution and a special assessment of $100. On October 29, 2009, Spell pled guilty to embezzling funds totaling $16,422.83. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office. |
| December 4th, 2009 | On December 4, 2009, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Christine S. Throckmorton, former office secretary/bookkeeper for the Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 57 (located in Pittsburgh, Pa.), pled guilty to one count of embezzlement of union funds in the amount of $9,674.95. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Pittsburgh District Office. |
| December 4th, 2009 | On December 4, 2009, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Christine S. Throckmorton, former office secretary/bookkeeper for the Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 57 (located in Pittsburgh, Pa.), pled guilty to one count of embezzlement of union funds in the amount of $9,674.95. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Pittsburgh District Office. |
| October 29th, 2009 | On October 29, 2009, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Donald Spell, former office employee for Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 12 (formerly located in Cincinnati, Ohio), pled guilty to embezzling union funds totaling $16,422. On October 9, 2009, Spell had been charged with embezzling funds in the same amount. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office. |
| October 29th, 2009 | On October 29, 2009, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Donald Spell, former office employee for Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 12 (formerly located in Cincinnati, Ohio), pled guilty to embezzling union funds totaling $16,422. On October 9, 2009, Spell had been charged with embezzling funds in the same amount. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office. |
| August 27th, 2009 | On August 27, 2009, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Terry Hacker, former Secretary-Treasurer of Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 12 (located in Cincinnati, Ohio), pled guilty to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $38,146. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office. |
| August 27th, 2009 | On August 27, 2009, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Terry Hacker, former Secretary-Treasurer of Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 12 (located in Cincinnati, Ohio), pled guilty to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $38,146. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office. |
| April 15th, 2009 | On April 15, 2009, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Christine S. Throckmorton, a former office secretary/bookkeeper for the Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 57 (located in Pittsburgh, Pa.), was sentenced to four years probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $9,674.95 and a special court assessment of $100. On December 4, 2009, Throckmorton pled guilty to one count of embezzling union funds totaling $9,675.95. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Pittsburgh District Office. |
| February 6th, 2006 | On February 6, 2006, in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, Anthony Rutledge, former Financial Secretary-Treasurer for Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE), Local 5, and former President of Unity House, a non-profit labor organization that provides benefits to about 20,000 members and retirees of HERE Local 5 and Teamsters Local 996, entered into a plea agreement in which Rutledge pled guilty to one count of knowingly falsifying a tax return and was sentenced to three years probation. Under terms of the plea agreement, Rutledge must permanently disassociate himself from Unity House, which his father, Art Rutledge, founded in 1951. |
| October 10th, 2003 | On October 10, 2003, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Matthew Downey, a representative of Elevator Constructor Local One, was sentenced to 78 months imprisonment and three years supervised release. He was ordered to pay a total of $2.6 million in restitution for fraud involving a no-show elevator operator scheme against Local One and to forfeit the sum of $800,000 for his involvement in the Local One racketeering enterprise. Downey, jointly and severally with other co-conspirators, was ordered to pay $7 million in restitution for fraud involving the 2 Broadway Project. On February 5, 2002, Downey was indicted for unlawful activity involving Elevator Constructors Local One. Additionally, there were 27 members of Local One, including two business agents, indicted for their involvement in the no-show scheme at 19 different construction sites in New York City. On April 16, 2002, in a separate indictment, Downey was charged, along with seven other individuals (including the developer of the 2 Broadway Project, the Operating Engineers Local 14 treasurer, and Elevator Constructor Local One representatives), for defrauding the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority and ZAR Realty of more than $10 million in construction money that was intended for vertical transportation costs on the 2 Broadway project. On April 24, 2003, Downey pled guilty to various charges in both indictments. The guilty plea and sentence follow a joint investigation by the OLMS New York District Office and the FBI. |
| April 22nd, 2003 | On April 22, 2003, in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, Ty Mariner, former treasurer for Branch 3083 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, was indicted on five counts of embezzlement totaling $953 (of the $2,346 specified elsewhere in the indictment) and one count of filing a false Form LM-4 report. He pled not guilty on May 9 at arraignment. The charges were brought following an investigation by the OLMS Seattle District Office. [Related documents: HTML | PDF] |
| February 12th, 2003 | On February 12, 2003, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Robert E. Martin, Jr., former member of Steelworkers Local Union 9336 in Radford, Virginia, was sentenced to spend three years on probation and ordered to pay $900.71 in restitution plus a special assessment of $100. Martin was further ordered to report to his probation officer any contacts with fugitive Elizabeth J. George and any information on her whereabouts. On December 11, 2002, Martin pled guilty to one count of harboring George and concealing her from arrest. Martin was previously charged with embezzlement before being jailed for three months on the harboring charge. These charges were brought following an investigation by the OLMS Pittsburgh District Office. |
| November 13th, 2002 | On November 13, 2002, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Norval Craig Michael, a member of Laborers Local 177, entered a guilty plea to an information charging him with conspiracy to embezzle. As detailed in the information, Michael joined with Business Manager Fred Risius and Vice-President Henry Jannenga in an embezzlement scheme wherein $16,900 in union checks payable to him were cashed and the proceeds split among the parties. These charges are the result of an investigation by the OLMS St. Louis District Office. Risius and Jannegna were charged and entered guilty pleas in related investigations on July 26, 2002. |
| September 25th, 2002 | On September 25, 2002, in Linn County, Iowa, an outstanding warrant was executed with the arrest of Karl Roush, former business manager of Local 497 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE). At the arraignment hearing, he pled not guilty to a charge of felony theft of union funds. These charges are the result of an investigation conducted by the OLMS St. Louis District Office. |