Union embezzlement brings prison time for Youngstown man

AKRON

A federal judge has sentenced a Youngstown man to four months in prison for union embezzlement and a related false document conviction.

U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi imposed the sentence Wednesday on Jeffrey J. Kenney, who had earlier pleaded guilty to one count each of union embezzlement and making a false financial report to the U.S. Department of Labor.

After prison, Kenney will be on supervised release for two years, with the first four months of it under electronically monitored house arrest.

Kenney must also make between $8,100 and $10,305 in restitution to the union, with the exact amount to be determined by the judge after she reviews additional information.

Kenney committed the offenses between 2003 and 2006 while he was secretary-treasurer of Local 205C of the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Youngstown, the U.S. Attorney said.

The union represented employees of newspaper and commercial or specialty printing businesses in the New Castle, Pa., and Youngstown areas.

Kenney embezzled the money by writing union checks to himself, by giving false financial reports at union meetings and by failing to pay the required fees to the international union, the U.S. Attorney said.

Because the fees weren’t paid, the international union put the local in trusteeship in March 2006 and then closed it and transferred its members to another local in 2007.