Labor union officer pleads guilty to unlawfully demanding payment from a contractor and embezzling funds
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
May 8, 2012 |
TRENTON, N.J. – A labor union official from Middlesex County today admitted demanding and receiving unlawful payments from a contractor and embezzling funds from a labor organization bank account, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Peter A. LoMauro, 42, of Monroe, N.J., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano in Trenton federal court to Counts One and Five of a seven-count Indictment. Count One charged LoMauro with unlawfully demanding and receiving an unlawful labor payment. Count Five charged him with embezzlement from a labor organization.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
LoMauro was employed as an organizer and later as a business agent for Local 9 of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (“Local 9”), headquartered in Englishtown, N.J. LoMauro admitted that on Oct. 31, 2006, he unlawfully accepted a check for $6,000 from a company identified as “Company One,” which employed plumbers who were represented by Local 9. LoMauro told a representative from Company One he was raising money for his sick uncle, identified only as “A.C.,” and requested that Company One issue the check to A.C.
A.C. was, in fact, LoMauro’s business partner and was not LoMauro’s uncle or a union member. LoMauro and A.C. maintained a joint bank account. After receiving the $6,000 check from Company One, LoMauro forged A.C.’s signature on the check and deposited it into the joint account that LoMauro controlled.
LoMauro was also the treasurer and an officer of another labor organization – the Middlesex County Building and Construction Trades Council, which comprises representatives from various labor unions in New Jersey and is headquartered in Englishtown. The council maintains an account it uses to fund various benevolent activities.
On March 10, 2010, LoMauro issued an $1,800 check, drawn on the council’s benevolent account and made payable to A.C. LoMauro deposited this check into the joint account that he controlled. LoMauro admitted the council did not authorize the disbursement and it did not benefit any legitimate purpose of the council.
The counts to which LoMauro pleaded guilty are each punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for August 16, 2012.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Robert L. Panella; and investigators of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, under the direction of Regional Administrator Jonathan Kay, for the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Moscato of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime/Gangs Unit in Newark.
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Defense counsel: Justin Walder and Kevin A. Buchan Esqs., Roseland, N.J.
