ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Tuesday sentenced the former president of a local postal workers union to five years of probation and six months of house arrest for embezzling $80,000.
Scott E. Rodgers, 51, was also ordered to repay the money.
Rodgers embezzled a total of $80,756. From 2016, when he became president of Postal Mail Handlers Local 314, to April 2020, Rodgers made four unauthorized ATM withdrawals from the union account and used the union debit card for personal purchases including meals, fuel, transportation, shopping and travel. He also falsely claimed and received “lost time” payments, or compensation for wages lost when performing work for the union.
Rodgers’ spending happened “on the backs of hard-working postal workers,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Becker, who prosecuted the case, in court. Becker also pointed out that Rodgers’ travel and casino trips occurred while he was receiving both his salary from the union and disability payments.
Rodgers also made his ATM withdrawals despite confronting a former union treasurer about her unauthorized ATM withdrawals, his plea says.
On January 26, Rodgers pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement from a labor union.
The union’s former treasurer, Yvette Luster, was sentenced last year to 18 months in prison for embezzling over $184,000.
The case was investigated by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor Management Standards.