Debra Wong Yang
United States Attorney
Central District of California
United States Courthouse
312 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, California 90012
October 24, 2005
Thom Mrozek (213) 894-6947
Los Angeles, CA - A Lucerne Valley man has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to his theft of nearly $200,000 from the labor union where he served as treasurer.
William Harry Good Jr, 57, pleaded guilty on Friday to two felony counts of embezzling funds from the Ontario-based Aeronautical Industrial Lodge 821 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
By pleading guilty, Good admitted that he embezzled $192,469 from Local Lodge 821 while serving as the financial secretary and treasurer during a nearly six-year period that ended in August 2004. Good accomplished the theft and embezzlement by writing 229 fraudulent checks drawn on the union's bank account. In cashing most of the unauthorized checks, Good forged the signatures of other Local Lodge 821 executive board members. In 1999, after he had begun unlawfully endorsing and cashing Local Lodge 821 checks, Good convinced the union's executive board to send union bank account statements and bills to his home.
Good pleaded guilty before United States District Judge George H. King, who is scheduled to sentence the defendant on January 23. At sentencing, Good faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A plea agreement filed in this case contemplates a sentence of at least 18 months to two years in prison, but this calculation is not binding on Judge King.
This case was investigated by the United States Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards and the Labor Department's Office of Inspector General.
Release No. 05-146
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