(afge2654.com)
As news reports continue to trickle out about the unacceptable care given to veterans by the VA medical centers, court sentences indicate there is widespread corruption among union leaders.
VA medical employees are represented by the American Federation of Government Employees.
The National Legal and Policy Center tracks union corruption and detailed these 15 AFGE-related cases, just since the beginning of 2013:
- James Charleston, former local president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2107, was sentenced in federal court to a year and a day in prison, followed by 18 months of supervised release, for defrauding the North Chicago union. He also was ordered to pay $102,784 in restitution.
- Mary Craigen, former secretary-treasurer for Local 2107, was sentenced to 90 days of home confinement, two years of probation, and 200 hours of community service for theft. She also was ordered to pay $8,975 in restitution.
- Janet Posey and Linda Bland, respectively, the former president and vice president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2384, were sentenced in U.S. District for the Northern District of West Virginia, for stealing funds in an amount of less than $1,000 from the Clarksburg, W.Va.-based union and then concealing the thefts in union records.
- Shelly Roanhorse, former treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3601, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma to three years of probation and ordered to pay $4,565 in restitution for making false statements in the financial records of the Claremore, Okla.-based union.
- Federck Petro, former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2094, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to six months of home confinement and three years of probation for embezzling $112,477 from the Manhattan union, which represents VA hospital employees.
- W.D. Whiting, former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1757, pleaded no contest in the 187th Judicial District Court of Bexar County, Texas, to one count of theft in the sum of between $500 and $1,500.
- Roberto Macias Jr., former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2759, was sentenced in the 4th Judicial District Court, County of Rusk, Texas, to three years of probation for theft from the El Paso-based union.
- Danny Hubbard, former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1380, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida to 24 counts of wire fraud against the Panama City, Fla. union.
- Christopher Stansbury, former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1765, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to two years of probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $18,662 for thefts from the Chicago-based union.
- Jacquelyn Pugh-Rodgers, former vice president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2107, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to three years probation, six months of which would be in community confinement, for mail fraud.
- Francisco Smalls, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2263, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico to two years of probation for embezzling funds from the Albuquerque union.
- Cynthia Yancey, former secretary-treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3840, pleaded guilty in the Hamilton County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas to misdemeanor theft from the Cincinnati-based union.
- Melody Wouden, former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2342, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota to six months of unsupervised probation for larceny from the Ft. Meade, S.D.-based union in an amount under $1,000.
- David Currie, former president and treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2583, pleaded guilty in the Superior Court of Washington, County of Clark, to theft from the Vancouver, Wash.-based union.
Maybe that’s why vets are languishing in VA facilities – unions are more focused on stealing or dealing with their leaders’ stealing than they are caring for patients.
