USDL-50/May 25, 2001 Office of Labor-Management Standards
	Contact: Deanne Amaden at (415) 975-4741 For Immediate Release: May 25, 2001

SAN FRANCISCO-- A U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles on Thursday sentenced the former financial secretary of a Wilmington, Calif., Longshore union to 12 months at a federal community confinement center and ordered her to pay the union more than $210,000 in restitution.

Teresa Esther Sanchez, 56, of Carson, pleaded guilty in December to three counts of embezzlement and two counts of making false union records. Sanchez, financial secretary from 1988 - 1999 of Local 20A of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, was indicted last July.

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards in Los Angeles and the Department's Office of Inspector General found that Sanchez cashed 168 union checks over a seven-year period that ended in December 1999. Sanchez also signed an unauthorized union check to her daughter for $2,000. She concealed the embezzlement by falsifying monthly reports to the union's membership. The court ordered Sanchez to surrender to the U.S. Marshals July 23 to begin her sentence.

Local 20A represents approximately 100 U.S. Borax employees at its Wilmington plant. The investigation was conducted with the full cooperation of Local 20A and the International Union. OLMS enforces federal labor laws regarding the manner in which unions must account for the funds they receive and disburse on behalf of their members. The OIG investigates allegations of labor racketeering in unions, employee benefit plans, and labor management relations.