Union treasurer pleads guilty to stealing $111,000

An Oceanside man, Charles Burke, 47, pleaded guilty in Nassau County Court last week to stealing more than $111,000 from Utility Workers Local 365, which he once served as treasurer.

Burke made his plea on April 6, before District Court Judge Martin Massell, admitting to one count of second-degree scheme to defraud. He faces up to one year in prison, and is due back in court for sentencing on June 13.

Before his arrest, he had repaid the union $70,000. As part of his sentencing, he will be required to repay the rest of the money.

“For more than five years, the defendant lined his pockets with the union dues of his fellow union members,” said District Attorney Madeline Singas. “With today’s plea, the defendant is now forced to repay the money he has stolen. I thank our partners at the U.S. Department of Labor who helped us investigate and prosecute this case.”

Singas said that in October 2014, Local 365 was notified by the treasurer of the Utility Works Union of America International that more than two years of payments the local union owed the international union had not been received. When it investigated, Local 365 discovered that Burke had been stealing money for more than five years, Singas’s office alleged.

In addition to failing to pay dues, Burke allegedly wrote checks to himself and made withdrawals from Local 365’s bank accounts without the union’s knowledge.

UWUA Local 365 is based in Nassau County, and members of the union work for American Water.

The case arises from a referral by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards in April 2015. “We again thank Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas and her staff for their hard work on this case,” said Andriana Vamvakas, the office’s district director. “We reiterate that we will continue to work cooperatively with other agencies to pursue and appropriately sanction union officers or employees who embezzle or steal union funds.”