On August 11, Brian Brownlee, former vice president of American Postal Workers Union, 2nd District, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, to five years probation, the first six months of which would be spent in home detention, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $16,228.38 plus a $100 special assessment. He had pleaded guilty in June to embezzling $16,221.30 in funds from the Hot Springs union by falsifying travel vouchers, lodging and other invoices. The sentencing follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On January 21, Sonia McGuire, former treasurer of American Postal Workers Union Local 3434, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to five years probation, the first six months of which must be served in home detention, for embezzling funds from the Decatur, Ga. union. She also will have to pay $16,023.12 in restitution and a $100 special assessment. McGuire had pleaded guilty in November to embezzling funds in the same amount. The sentencing follows a probe by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On December 17, David Matthis, former secretary-treasurer of American Postal Workers Union Local 205 in Alexandria, La., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana to embezzling $5,472.61 from the union. He had been charged with one information count in November. The guilty plea follows a probe by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Department Standards.
On November 23, David Matthis, former secretary-treasurer of Local 205 of the American Postal Workers Union, was charged in an information count in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana with one count of embezzling funds from the Alexandria union during August 2006-October 2007. The charge follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On November 18, Sonia McGuire, former treasurer of American Postal Workers Union Local 3434, pled guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to one count of embezzling funds from the Decatur, Ga. union in the amount of $16,023.12. The guilty plea follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On September 15, Sonia McGuire, former treasurer of American Postal Workers Union Local 6434 in Decatur, Georgia, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia for embezzling union funds in excess of $15,000. The alleged offenses took place between January 15, 2005 and April 28, 2008. The indictment follows a joint investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards and the U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General.
On October 8, Sylvia Grooms, director of industrial relations for American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Local 199 in Richmond, Va., had grand larceny charges against her indefinitely dropped. Virginia Circuit Court for the City of Richmond issued a "Noelle Prosequi" on all four counts. A "Noelle Prosequi" in a criminal case indicates a decision by the prosecutor to proceed no further. As "'Lectric Law Library" explains: "The effect of a noelle prosequi, when obtained, is to put the defendant without day, but it does not operate as an acquittal; for he may be afterwards reindicted, and even upon the same indictment, fresh process may be awarded."
On September 2, the current president and two former officers of Local 189 of the American Postal Workers Union were indicted in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on a combined 200 counts, almost all of them wire fraud. Accused are Lance Hinerman, Steven Boyles and Daniel Cassidy, respectively, current president, former vice president and former craft clerk director of the union, which represents more than 700 postal employees in the Little Rock area. The indictments follow a joint investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards and the U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General.
On July 23, Joseph Clegg, former president of American Postal Workers Union Local 753, was charged in the Superior Court for Clark County, Indiana, in an information count with theft of $1,560 from the Jeffersonville union. The charge follows an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On June 8, Brian Brownlee, former vice-president of American Postal Workers Union (APWU), 2nd District, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas to embezzling $16,221.30 in funds from the Hot Springs union. An investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards had concluded that Brownlee falsified information on travel vouchers.
