The former president of a New Jersey local union and administrator of two union affiliated benefit funds made her initial appearance today on charges that she embezzled from the union and two union-affiliated employee benefit funds, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.

Dorothy McBride, 74, of Montville, New Jersey, was charged by complaint with one count each of embezzlement of labor union assets and embezzlement from employee benefit plans. She allegedly embezzled approximately $100,000 from a local union affiliated with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), of which she was president, and approximately $534,470 from the Welfare Fund and the Pension Fund, of which she was administrator. McBride made her initial appearances today by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre and was released on $250,000 unsecured bond.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

McBride had control over the union’s and the funds’ bank accounts. From at least 2015 through June 2018, she made routine payments to her personal credit card accounts from the bank accounts of the union and employee benefit funds for expenditures that were not authorized or for legitimate union or fund purposes. McBride caused the pension fund to direct monthly payments for pension benefits to a personal account of hers for a benefit that she was ineligible to receive and that the pension fund was not obligated to pay out.

The charges of embezzlement of labor union assets and embezzlement from employee benefit plans each carry a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense.

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited the investigators of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, under the direction of Regional Director Thomas Licetti of the New York Regional Office; investigators of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards, under the direction of Adriana Vamvakas, Regional Director; and special agents of the Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector General, New York Region, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Mikulka, with the investigation leading to the charges.

The government is represented by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kendall Randolph of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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Defense counsel: Murray Richman Esq., Fair Lawn, New Jersey