FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 14, 2003
Kesha Handy
P. O. Box 61129 Houston, TX 77208
Phone: 713/567-9335 Fax: 713/718-3390
E-Mail: usatty.txs@usdoj.gov
NEW CHARGES FILED AGAINST CURRENT AND FORMER PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION
CONTACT AUSA: Edward F. Gallagher or Richard Magness
PHONE: (713) 567-9000
(HOUSTON, TX) United States Attorney Michael Shelby announced today the return of a superseding indictment adding new charges against Byron Alford Boyd, Jr., 57, Seattle, Washington; Charles Leonard Little, 69, Leander, Texas; and John Russell Rookard, 57, Olalla, Washington. These present and former union officials, along with Ralph John Dennis, 51, Boone, Iowa, had been previously charged with racketeering conspiracy and two counts of mail fraud. The superceding indictment returned by a Houston grand jury yesterday, November 13th, includes new charges of racketeering against all three defendants and alleges 37 separate racketeering acts, seven counts of union embezzlement against Boyd and Little, three additional counts of union embezzlement against Boyd, and two counts of witness tampering against Boyd.
Ralph John Dennis, the former Director of Insurance for the UTU Insurance Association, pled guilty to racketeering conspiracy on October 3, 2003. Dennis resigned from his position with the Union this past July. The three other defendants are scheduled for a status conference before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake on December 5, 2003, at which time a trial date is expected to be set.
Boyd, currently the International President of the UTU, Little, a former International President of the UTU, and Rookard, presently the Special Assistant to UTU President Boyd, now stand charged with conspiring to violate federal mail fraud and wire fraud statutes, commercial state bribery statutes, and a union embezzlement statute by using their positions of authority as officers and employees of the United Transportation Union to solicit and collect cash payments and other things of value from attorneys doing business with the union between June 1994 and July 2003.
The United Transportation Union (UTU) is an international labor organization based in Cleveland, Ohio, with over 125,000 members consisting of railroad, bus, airline, and mass transit employees and retirees. The UTU represents its members in
collective bargaining with common carriers by railroads throughout the United States and Canada with respect to wages and other terms and conditions of employment.
Byron Boyd, who has held this position as the International President of the UTU since the resignation of former International President Charles Little in February 2001, was elected by the union membership at the UTU convention in August of this year. Little was first elected as union president in 1995 with Boyd serving as Assistant President. Little was re-elected president in 1999. John Rookard is currently employed by the UTU as Special Assistant to the President, Byron Boyd.
The indictment alleges that the defendants devised and executed a scheme to defraud and to deprive the membership of the UTU of their honest services by soliciting and receiving over $525,000 in cash from thirty-four attorneys, in Houston and around the United States, performing services for the union membership as designated legal counsel for the UTU. The Designated Legal Counsel (DLC) program for the UTU consists of approximately 50 attorneys throughout different regions of the United States who specialize in representing union rail employees whose injuries on the job result in claims against their employers. The indictment identifies the attorneys from whom bribes were solicited by number only (e.g. Attorney Number One) pursuant to Justice Department policy.
Attorneys appointed by the union president as DLC became dues-paying members of the UTU and were recommended to the union membership as the best suited attorneys to handle claims brought by injured rail employees under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA). FELA was enacted into law by Congress in 1908 to specifically address the dangers faced by rail employees and their need to seek compensation for injuries. Unlike state workers' compensation programs, FELA places no restrictions on the types of damages that may be recovered by rail employees and no monetary limits upon the size of recoveries. Consequently, attorneys associated with FELA practices competed for the highly coveted DLC positions.
Little and Boyd had unilateral control over the appointment of attorneys as DLC and could remove attorneys from the DLC list for any reason. The indictment charges that the defendants engaged in acts of fraud, bribery, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering relating to the conduct of the union's DLC program. Specifically, by demanding thousands of dollars in secret cash contributions for Little's and Boyd's presidential campaigns, by soliciting and collecting cash from attorneys in exchange for
those attorneys being made DLC of the UTU, by soliciting and collecting cash from DLC attorneys in order for those attorneys to remain as DLC, and by using the United States mail to communicate with the DLC and other union members setting forth rules of conduct governing the DLC, including a prohibition against involvement in union politics and elections.
The new indictment also alleges the embezzlement of approximately $8,000 in union funds used to pay travel expenses incurred by Ralph Dennis related to trips he made to various attorneys for the purpose of soliciting and collecting money from them and in two instances, to warn attorneys to keep quiet about those payments. Boyd is charged with two counts of witness tampering for actions he allegedly took after a Houston grand jury began hearing testimony regarding an investigation of the UTU. Boyd is accused of sending Ralph Dennis in November 2001 to Philadelphia and to Los Angeles to warn two separate DLC to keep quite about making cash payments to Boyd and Little, including $30,000 to become DLC for the UTU.
Little, Boyd and Rookard are expected to make an initial appearance and be arraigned on the new charges before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the near future. All remain free on bond pending trial.
If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum statutory penalty of twenty years imprisonment and $250,000 fine for the racketeering and the racketeering conspiracy; up to ten years imprisonment and $250,000 fine for each mail fraud charge; up to five years imprisonment and $250,000 fine for each union embezzlement charge; and up to ten years imprisonment and $250,000 fine for each witness tampering charge. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of $525,000 in United States currency as proceeds obtained by the defendants from their racketeering activity.
The investigation of former and current officers of the UTU was initiated in 1999 by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General and Office of Labor Management Standards. The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Edward Gallagher and Richard Magness, Houston Organized Crime Strike Force, and Trial Attorney Vincent Falvo, U.S. Department of Justice, Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Labor Unit.
Indictments are formal accusations of criminal conduct, not evidence. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.
9:43:46 PM 
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