Associated Press Published

Two Former Labor Union Officials Face Embezzlement Charges

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Two former labor union officials have been indicted on embezzlement charges.

U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld II says a federal grand jury in Wheeling returned indictments Tuesday against 54-year-old James Coffey Jr. of Bergholz, Ohio, and 55-year-old Jeffrey Beresford of Cameron, West Virginia.

Coffey is the former president of United Steelworkers Local Union 05-887. Ihlenfeld says Coffey is accused of using a business debit card to pay for personal expenses and wrote unauthorized checks to himself from a business bank account.

Beresford is the ex-business manager of the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 83. Ihlenfeld says Beresford allegedly used his position as a Wheeling apprenticeship program trustee to write unauthorized checks to himself from the program’s bank account.

If convicted, the pair face up to five years in prison.