United States v. Alva Dotson Bennett

Appellant, Alva Dotson Bennett, was indicted with accomplices and tried on one count of conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. § 371 , forty-nine counts of making false statements to the United States Department of Labor, 18 U.S.C. § 1001 , seven counts of theft and embezzlement of CETA funds, 18 U.S.C. § 665 (a), and two counts of filing false income tax returns, 26 U.S.C. § 7206 (1). We affirm his convictions.

Bennett was secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Union Local 911. The criminal charges were for participating in a scheme to defraud the Government of funds appropriated under CETA. The first part of the fraud was to bill the CETA program for work purportedly done by defendant’s collaborators and codefendants. The money so generated was kicked back to Bennett. The second part of this scheme involved salaries of four teamster employees. Bennett misrepresented facts in order to collect salaries for four employees for work in fact not performed.

The kickbacks to Bennett included a series of payments by a company which administered the program. Bennett did not report these payments on his tax return. Also included in the unreported income was a check he received from a codefendant. That payment…