Annette Elizabeth Jones, Bank Fraud, Maryland 2019

Baltimore, MD – Former American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local Union 331 Treasurer Annette Elizabeth Jones, 45, of Port Deposit, Maryland, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for bank fraud in connection with a scheme to embezzle funds from the labor union where she worked.

Jones entered her guilty plea on May 7, 2019. The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; District Director Mark Wheeler of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor – Management Standards; and Special Agent in Charge of the Mid-Atlantic Field Office Kim R. Lampkins for the US Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General.

According to her plea agreement, Jones is the former Treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local Union 331, which represented approximately 760 employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Perry Point, Maryland. As detailed in her plea agreement, Jones executed two fraud schemes through which she embezzled at least $82,180.73 from the Union.

First, from July 2012 through July 2015, Jones stole at least $80,944.80 in Union funds by forging her colleagues’ signatures on 335 Union checks that she wrote to herself and then cashed or deposited those checks at multiple financial institutions. Second, from January 2014 through July 2015, Jones used a Union-issued credit card to pay for $1,235.93 in personal expenses using Union funds on 20 separate occasions.

Jones admitted that she took steps to conceal the scheme from the Union. For example, not only did Jones have exclusive control of the Union’s checkbook, but she also maintained sole custody of a laptop computer that she was issued by the Union to manage its financial records on Union-purchased accounting software. In that software, Jones frequently recorded false information regarding the business purpose of the fraudulent Union checks she forged and negotiated, or recorded no information at all about the business purpose of such checks.

Jones was immediately removed from her position as Union Treasurer and resigned from the VA soon thereafter. As part of her sentence, Jones is required to pay restitution in the full amount of the loss, which the parties agreed is $82,180.73. United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the DOL and VA-OIG for their work in the investigation.

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