USA Two local union officials sentenced for embezzlement

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The secretary-treasurer of a St. Louis area union gambled she could get away with embezzling from her local’s treasury and spending the money at a casino – and she lost.

Last week U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel sentenced Sherell Mitchell to five years probation, six months home detention and 200 hours of community service for the embezzlement of more than $110,000 from the Communications Workers Union Local 86823.

As part of her plea agreement, Mitchell made a $50,000 payment toward the restitution amount and must pay the remainder of the restitution over the course of her term of probation

In January Mitchell admitted to writing unauthorized checks to herself and withdrawing cash directly from the union's account, siphoning off more than $110,000 over the course of more than seven years while she was the secretary-treasurer.

The local from which Mitchell embezzled this sum has only about 85 members, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Much of the embezzled funds was spent at a local casino by Mitchell.


Also last week, a former St. Louis union president pled guilty to falsifying union records to conceal the money she embezzled and was sentenced to one year probation and 100 hours community service by Judge Thomas C. Mummert.

Angela Jones admitted to falsifying records of Laborers Local 509 last week in federal court. As part of her plea agreement, Jones repaid her ex-union the $5,000 she embezzled and agreed to pay the union a $1,000 fine.

Both cases were investigated by the Labor Department – Office of Labor Management Standards and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Albus.