Reda Overton Sentenced To Serve 18 Months In Prison For Embezzlement And Theft From A Labor Union

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On Nov. 10, 2014, Reda Overton, 60, of Powell, Tenn., was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison by the Honorable Thomas A. Varlan, Chief U.S. District Judge. Upon her release from prison, she will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years. Overton was also ordered to pay $206,056.71 in restitution.

Overton pleaded guilty in May 2014 to a one-count information charging her with unlawfully and willfully embezzling over $200,000 from Locomotive Engineers, a labor union.

According to the plea agreement on file with the U.S. District Court, beginning in December 2008, Overton was employed as the Executive Secretary to the General Chairman of a Locomotive Engineers’ committee. Locomotive Engineers is a labor organization which represents bargaining unit members who are employed by Norfolk Southern, a Virginia-based railway company that ships products across state lines throughout the United States. She was paid a bi-weekly salary in exchange for her secretarial and treasury duties that consisted of processing the payroll for herself and others. Acting unlawfully and willfully with the intent to defraud, in her official capacity as an employee, Overton transferred or overpaid herself over $200,000. This was union money taken from the organization’s bank accounts and deposited into Overton’s personal bank accounts. She confessed to the embezzlement to U.S. Department of Labor investigators.

Special agents with Department of Labor investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooklyn Sawyers represented the United States.