WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards publishes its criminal enforcement actions each week. The following information was obtained from a May 2012 report.
Each instance involves a labor union official.
Kenneth Aurecchia, former Vice President of Plumbers International and former business manager for Plumbers Local 51 (located in East Providence, R.I.), was sentenced to six months of home confinement, three years of probation and 150 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay a fine of $40,000 on May 31 in Rhode Island federal court for embezzlement. Aurecchia paid restitution totaling $107,515 prior to sentencing.
Stennett Bernard, former President of Steelworkers Local 421-04 in Brockton, Mass., pled guilty May 31,in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to one count of conspiracy and one count of embezzling union funds.
Stephen Arena, former President of Novelty Workers Local 148 (located in Jersey City, N.J.), pled guilty May 31 in the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to a one-count indictment of embezzlement.
William Adrian, former business manager for Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 101 in Belleville, Ill., pled guilty to a two-count information charging him in Illinois federal court with embezzling union funds and theft from an employee pension or welfare plan.
Libby Stegner, former administrative assistant for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1319 (located in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.), pleaded guilty May 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $41,321.25.
Daniel Kramer, former Secretary-Treasurer of Fire Fighters Local 45 (located in Newport News, Va.), was indicted May 29 in the Circuit Court for Fauquier County, Va., on one count of grand larceny.
Carole Reeves, former office manager for Sheet Metal Workers Local 23 (located in Anchorage, Alaska), was sentenced to three years of probation and was fined $6,000 on May 22 after pleading guilty to a single count of embezzling labor union funds.
Thomas Coffey, former President of United Auto Workers Local 912 (located in Lexington, Ky.), pled guilty in federal court May 21 to one count of making false entries in unions records between 2005 and 2008. He was sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service and ordered to make restitution in the amount of $7,358.21 and pay a $25 assessment.
A criminal complaint was filed May 17 charging Joseph Palumbo, former President of Newport, R.I., Firefighters Local 100, with embezzlement and fraudulent conversion in the amount of $1,541.91.
James J. Kearney Jr., former Financial Secretary-Treasurer of Iron Workers Local 45, was sentenced to prison for 30 months and three years of supervised release May 10 in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He will also have to pay a $100 special assessment. Kearney pled guilty Nov. 11 to one count of embezzling $561,365 from the union.
Ernest Milewski, former President of the United Food and Commercial Workers Northeast District Council in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release May 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
He was also ordered to pay $257,590.26 restitution and a $200 special assessment. Milewski pled guilty Aug. 9 to one count of embezzling union funds and one count of embezzling assets of a health care benefit program.