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EVANSVILLE — The former longtime president of Evansville’s UAW Local 443 is facing a felony theft charge for allegedly making nearly $19,000 in unauthorized payments to himself, family members and vendors out of the local labor union’s checking account.
According to a criminal complaint filed Jan. 20 in Rock County Circuit Court, Jeffrey Sheffield, 68, of Rockford, allegedly between 2016 and 2024 made 127 unauthorized debit card transactions totaling $8,032; issued 42 unauthorized checks to himself, his family members, and vendors totaling $7,567; made 37 unauthorized fund transfers to his personal account totaling $2,775; and made 8 unauthorized electronic payments to Spectrum totaling $479 from the local’s checking account.
He faces one count of felony theft of more than $10,000, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $25,000 fine or both.
The alleged theft came to light, according to the complaint, when UAW Local 443 failed to file a required annual report with the U.S Office of Labor Management Standards, and an investigation was opened by the U.S. Department of Labor.
In a report, the Labor Department investigator said Local 443 had 30 to 40 members who worked at Wisco Industries in Oregon until the union was terminated in July 2021. Local union members paid monthly dues to Local 443 equivalent to 2.5 hours of their regular hourly wage, and their union meetings were held intermittently at bars in the Oregon and Brooklyn areas. Local 443 didn’t appear at the time of the investigation to have a functioning board of directors.
Sheffield told an investigator that the local union was terminated in July of 2021 due it “being too small and the UAW not wanting to represent them.†The UAW’s Auditing and Strike Departments director subsequently told the Labor Department investigator that it considered Local 443 “dormant†rather than “terminated†because it had never locally completed the steps required to shut it down.
A Wisco Industries representative told the investigator that Sheffield was employed there from 1996 to 2014, when the company said he “voluntarily resigned.†During the investigation, Sheffield said he had been union president for about 30 years.
Sheffield initially told the investigator they were “grossly mistaken†about the theft, and said he had evidence to prove that. However, the investigator said Sheffield and his attorney failed to show up to a scheduled interview and had not made any effort since then to contact the investigator.
Bank statements were found to be going to a P.O. Box in Sheffield’s name, different from a P.O. Box set up for Local 443, according to investigation documents. Sheffield’s family members told investigators that they had never received the funds allegedly paid to them, and said at least some of the signatures authorizing payments to them appeared forged.
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