BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted two Talladega County men for embezzling money from the local United Steel Workers Union where they were officers, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards, District Director H. Craig Neel.

HARRY DANE SMALL, 54, of Oxford, and DENNIS LEE McGEE, 56, of Eastaboga, are charged in separate multi-count indictments filed in U.S. District Court.

Small is charged with embezzling 12 checks worth about $25,820 from United Steel Workers Union, Local 9506, between August 2008 and February 2009, while he served as the local’s secretary-treasurer.

McGee is charged with embezzling 15 checks totaling about $8,200 from the union local between September 2008 and February 2009, while he served as the union’s president.

“Union members entrust their money to the officers they elect and when those officers violate that trust and the law by stealing from the union, they stand to be prosecuted,” Vance said.

The maximum sentence for stealing and embezzling money while serving as a labor union official is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards, investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank M. Salter is prosecuting the case.

Members of the public are reminded that an indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

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