Former union treasurer charged with stealing nearly $33,000

A Jasper man is facing two felony theft charges for allegedly embezzling nearly $33,000 from American Federation of Government Employees Local 2150.

Carlton C. Woodcox, 56, 402 Clay St., Jasper, was arrested Friday afternoon for a Class D felony count of theft and a Level 6 felony count of theft. The classifications on the theft are due to Indiana code changes that took effect in 2014.

Woodcox served as the AFGE Local 2150 secretary-treasurer from 2006 to June of 2015. The local represents food inspectors for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. It has about 21 members working in 36 plants in southern Indiana. Those union members pay biweekly dues of $12.50.

In a case filed by Dubois County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Beth Sermersheim, the state alleges Woodcox exerted unauthorized control over $30,859 of the union’s cash between January 1, 2011 and March 24, 2014. The second count alleges he exerted unauthorized control over $1,928 of the union’s funds between July 1, 2014 and June 24, 2015.

According to court documents based on an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, Woodcox made used ATMs to make unauthorized withdrawals from the union’s account 117 times; 113 of those withdrawals occurred in Dubois County.

Investigators determined Woodcox closed the local’s checking account in June of 2015 after he lost the reappointment to the secretary-treasurer position in May. He transferred those funds into a new account and originally told investigators he did so to remove his name from the account.

However, according to investigators, he later admitted to moving the funds to a new account to prevent the new officers from accessing bank statements from the original account and seeing the unauthorized ATM withdrawals made during his term as secretary-treasurer.

The local’s new secretary-treasurer requested the paper bank statements from Woodcox but he reported they were destroyed when his garage was flooded, according to the investigative affidavit.

Eventually, the local’s new secretary-treasurer was able to gain access to bank records and found the discrepancies in the ATM withdrawals. The local then contacted the department of labor about their findings.

In April, the U.S. Department of Labor notified Sermersheim of the case and informed her the total Woodcox allegedly stole was below the minimum threshold for a union embezzlement case. Sermersheim decided to pursue theft charges against Woodcox in accordance with Indiana Code.

The Dubois County Superior Court issued a warrant for his arrest and Jasper police took him into custody last Friday. After his initial appearance in Dubois County Superior Court on Monday, Woodcox posted a $750 bond and was released from jail.

With ATM withdrawal fees and charges for overages on the local’s bank account, the total amount of funds Local 2150 lost during the period of time the department of labor investigated was $34,667.95.