California Family - Husband, Wife, Son & Daughter - Accused Of Embezzling $900K From Union

From the San Bernardino Sun on 1/28/2015:

A Loma Linda family was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of embezzling $900,000 from a union’s wealth and welfare trust over eight years, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

John S. Romero, 68, the former president of United Industrial and Service Workers of America Local 101; his wife, Evelyn Romero, 66, who succeeded her husband as president of USIWA until June 2014; their son, John J. Romero, 50, the former secretary and treasurer of USIWA; and their daughter, Danae Romero, 37, who was a union officer reportedly took the money by making monthly payments from the union account into fraudulent accounts, according to a 40-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury last week.
In one instance, monthly payments were being made for office space in Nevada, which allegedly housed offices for the union, according to Assistant United States Attorney Jay Robinson. That was not the case. The payments were being made to a Nevada-based company created by John S. Romero and his wife and daughter.

The family also allegedly made payroll payments from the union’s health and wellness trust to a defunct union, United Service Workers of America.

The family members reportedly knowingly filing false annual reports with the U.S. Department of Labor that failed to disclose more than $100,000 in UISWA revenues and disbursements, willfully misusing the assets from both the UISWA and UISWA Health Plan, and knowingly and willfully permitting another Romero-family member who had previously been convicted of a felony narcotics violation to serve as an officer and employee of the UISWA, according to the indictment.
About $110,000 of the money reportedly taken from the trust was used to pay for a civil lawsuit that involved the father and son, said Robinson. That case had no connection to the embezzlement investigation.

In early 2013, investigators received an anonymous call regarding some inconsistencies with the way the trust money was being handled, officials said.

The federal grand jury returned the indictment last week and all four were arrested Wednesday morning.

Mother and daughter were arrested in the Loma Linda home they shared and John S. Romero was taken into custody at his Colton home. The couple’s son was not arrested at his Loma Linda home.

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New Jersey Man Sentenced For Role In $784K Postal Service Union Embezzlement Scheme

John McGovern, 55, currently of Hawthorne, New Jersey and formerly of Ridgewood, New Jersey, has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for embezzling $783,931 from the North Jersey Area Local 190 of the American Postal Workers International Union where he had served as secretary-treasurer. According to authorities, McGovern conspired with the union's former president, Gary G. Weightman, 58, of Keansburg, New Jersey, to siphon payroll funds by issuing additional additional pay to themselves as well as reimbursing themselves for non-existent or personal expenses. The scheme spanned a two and a half year period, from April 2000 to October 2002. McGovern pleaded guilty last November to one count of conspiracy to embezzle from a union. He is reported to have spent much of the ill-gotten gains at casinos in Atlantic City. Weightman has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and is due to be sentenced for his part on June 10, 2011. The two were originally arrested in February 2006.

Read the story here, here and here.