Union officials sentenced on corruption charges

January 31st 2011 · 0 Comments

THREE UNION TIMEKEEPERS SENTENCED FOR WIRE FRAUD IN SCHEME TO DEFRAUD PORTS AMERICA BALTIMORE

Claimed Regular and Overtime Hours When They Were Actually on Vacation or At Home

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced William Richard Zichos, Jr, age 59, of Arnold, Maryland to a year and a day in prison followed by three years of supervised release; Dale Martin Kowalewski, age 55, of Reisterstown, Maryland to 10 months in prison, followed by two months of home detention as part of three years of supervised release; and Joseph Ross Bell, age 68, of Cockeysville, Maryland to six months in prison, followed by six months of home detention as part of three years of supervised, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, in connection with a scheme to defraud Ports America Baltimore, the stevedore and terminal operator at the Port of Baltimore. Judge Blake also ordered that the defendants were jointly liable to pay $39,874 in restitution, which they paid today at sentencing.

The sentences were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Robert L. Panella, Special Agent-in-Charge for the Washington Region of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations.

“The evidence showed that the defendants used their positions as timekeepers to falsify their attendance reports and receive salary payments for lengthy periods of time when they were not at work, including many occasions when they were on vacation overseas,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.