Bookkeeper Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $304,903 From Labor Union
A Press release by the Department of Justice reported that United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg has announced that Denise E. Kovacs of Clermont has pleaded guilty to embezzlement. Kovacs was the bookkeeper at Plumbers AFL-CIO Local 803, a labor union representing plumbers and pipefitters in central Florida. During her nearly five-year period of employment, Kovacs embezzled $43,777 in cash from union dues and charged $261,126 in expenses on the union’s credit card. Kovacs altered internal business records to conceal her theft and keep union officials uninformed of her ongoing embezzlement of funds. Kovacs faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, and her sentencing is scheduled for June 21, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger. The Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards investigated the case and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael P. Felicetta.
The importance of due diligence background investigations can be easily realized by reading the day-to-day headlines in the news. Daily embezzlement and fraud arrests are publicized when law enforcement arrests criminals who have been stealing money from their employers for years.
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