Ex-Teamsters union officials sentenced to prison for embezzlement and fraud

A couple from Belleville have each been sentenced to a year in prison as a result of their convictions for embezzlement and theft from a labor union and wire fraud, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Steven D. Weinhoeft, said.

The sentences of Scott D. Alexander, 56, and Nancy L. Alexander, 52, will be satisfied by six months in prison, to be followed by six months home incarceration with electronic monitoring and three years of supervised release.

From Jan. 1, 2012, through June 30, 2016, Scott Alexander was the president/business agent of the Union Local 50 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. His wife, Nancy, was the local’s office administrator. During that time, the Alexanders embezzled and converted union funds by using the union’s credit card to make personal purchases. They also manipulated their payroll withholdings in order to increase their net pay at the local’s expense, received more vacation pay than earned, received salary while on vacation, and received additional auto allowance payments.

At their sentencing, the loss to the Teamsters Local 50 was determined to be $66,855.33. Some of the money was repaid prior to sentencing. As part of their sentence, the Alexanders were ordered to pay back $44,576.04 in restitution to the union.

The investigation was done by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor Racketeering. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Norman R. Smith.