Former Union Treasurer Pleads Guilty To Embezzling At Least $82K In Union Funds
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Port Deposit woman pleaded guilty Thursday to bank fraud in connection with a scheme to embezzle funds from the labor union where she worked.
Annette Jones, 45, of Port Deposit, entered her guilty plea on May 7, 2019.
According to her plea agreement, Jones is the former Treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local Union 331, which represents about 760 employees of the Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Perry Point.
As detailed in her plea agreement, Jones executed two fraud schemes through which she embezzled at least $82,180.73 from the Union.
From July 2012 through July 2015, Jones stole at least $80,944.80 in Union funds by forging her colleagues' signatures on 335 Union checks that she wrote to herself and then cashed or deposited those checks at multiple financial institutions.
From January 2014 through July 2015, Jones used a Union-issued credit card to pay for $1,235.93 in personal expenses using Union funds on 20 separate occasions.
Jones admitted that she took steps to conceal the scheme from the Union.
Jones' fraud was discovered in July 2015, when the Union's Vice President overheard a phone call in which Jones attempted to purchase a smartphone for a family member using the credit card she had been issued to pay for Union expenses only.
Jones was immediately removed from her position as Union Treasurer and resigned from the VA soon thereafter.
As part of her plea agreement, Jones will be required to pay restitution in the full amount of the loss, $82,180.73.
Jones and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Jones will be sentenced to two years in federal prison.