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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-9301
A guilty plea today by another official of the Marine
Engineers Beneficial Association/National Maritime Union (MEBA/NMU) brought an
end to a case involving 16 former officials caught rigging union election
ballots. Vincent T. Oliveri's plea closed the first criminal prosecution case
ever taken by the government against union officials for rigging ballots in
national elections.
Oliveri, former representative of the union in Seattle,
today admitted to U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson in
Washington, D.C., that he unlawfully solicited members' ballots, voted and
blank, during a union election and gave them to another official, knowing that
the blank ballots would be voted by that official.
On July 5, 1995, a federal jury in Washington, D.C.,
convicted the former top officers of the union on RICO conspiracy, mail fraud,
extortion and embezzlement charges. The verdict came after a five-month trial
and was the first criminal prosecution of a nationwide election fraud scheme
carried out by union officials.
In that case, the union's top officers--C. EUGENE DEFRIES,
CLYDE DODSON, REINHOLD SCHAMANN, CLAUDE DAULLEY, and ALEXANDER CULLISON--were
convicted of fixing union elections by unlawfully obtaining ballots from union
members and then voting the ballots for themselves. CULLISON and SCHAMANN are
now cooperating with the government. DEFRIES, DODSON, and DAULLEY were
sentenced, respectively, to 63 months, 57 months, and 21 months imprisonment
while allowed to remain free pending appeals, and were ordered to forfeit a
total of $4.6 million in racketeering proceeds.
Last week, five other former officials also entered guilty
pleas before Judge Jackson. MICHAEL A. BAKER and DURWIN DAVIS, of the Houston,
TX, union hall, PAUL T. REYBURN of the San Francisco, CA, union hall, and
MICHAEL A. RIBERA of the New Orleans, LA, union hall, pled guilty to one felony
count of mail fraud for unlawfully soliciting the voted and blank ballots of
members during union elections, and either voting the blank ballots themselves,
or giving blank ballots to other officials, knowing that the other officials
would vote them.
Additionally, WALTER J. BROWNE, of the union's Federation
of Public Employees division in Plantation, FL, pled guilty last week to a
criminal information charging him with one misdemeanor count of Delaying or
Destruction of Mail. BROWNE admitted opening mail containing merger referendum
material addressed to union members without their authority.
In September, WILLIAM M. FAST, of the Portland, OR, hall
pled guilty to one count of mail fraud, and THADDEUS "TED" KEDZIERSKI, of the
Wilmington, CA, hall pled guilty to one count of mail fraud in October, based
on the same conduct as their co-defendants.
Defendants BAKER, DAVIS, KEDZIERSKI, REYBURN, and RIBERA
all received agreed sentences of two years supervised probation. BAKER and
DAVIS were ordered to pay fines of $2,500, and REYBURN and RIBERA $1,500.
BROWNE will be sentenced on January 29, 1997. FAST's sentencing has been
deferred.
MEBA/NMU was the largest maritime union in the U.S. after
the 1988 merger and represented licensed marine engineers, unlicensed seamen
and shoreside employees nationwide until the merger dissolved in 1993 following
controversy and litigation within the union.
OLIVERI, who pled guilty to one felony count of mail fraud,
was sentenced to two years supervised probation and a $1,500 fine. The case was
investigated jointly by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of the Inspector
General and the FBI and was prosecuted by the Justice Department's Organized
Crime and Racketeering Section.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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