United States v. James Douglas Griffin

On March 22, 1979, defendant James Douglas Griffin was indicted by a grand jury in Phoenix, Arizona on eighteen counts of embezzlement of union funds in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 501 (c) and seventeen counts of embezzlement from an employee benefit plan in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 664 .

This indictment was the culmination of a two and one-half year investigation by civil compliance officers of the U.S. Department of Labor. The investigation began on Sep tember 14, 1976 in response to a report by Donald Prosise, Business Agent for Roofer’s Union Local 135, Phoenix, Arizona and Robert Wardle, Management Representative of the Phoenix Roofing Industry Joint Apprenticeship Committee, made to the Labor Management Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor. Prosise and Wardle had reported that defendant allegedly had embezzled funds from Local 135 and the Joint Apprenticeship Committee.

From September 14, 1976 through December 18, 1978 civil compliance officers from the Department of Labor conducted thirty-seven interviews on topics ranging from a description of defendant’s position, of his responsibilities with the Union and of the operating procedures for the various…