Chaparral Woman Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison for Defrauding Union
Defendant Fraudulently Converted $143,457.50 in Union Funds for Personal Use

LAS CRUCES—Today, a U.S. District Judge in Las Cruces sentenced Gloria Porter, 65, of Chaparral, New Mexico, to 70 months of imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release for her conviction on fraud and identity theft charges, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales. Porter also was order to pay $143,457.50 in restitution to the unions that were the victims of her fraud. Porter, who has been on release under pretrial supervision, is required to surrender to a federal corrections institution to be designated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons within 60 days.

A federal jury convicted Porter on all 107 counts of an indictment charging her with 105 counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft on June 30, 2011, after a three-day trial.

The evidence at trial established that from, December 20, 2005 through September 2, 2008, Porter, an employee at White Sands Missile Range, executed a scheme to defraud the Army Military Council (AMC), a body comprised of local unions representing members of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) who are employed by the United States Army. Porter, who at the time was serving as national vice president for the NFFE, the secretary-treasurer for the AMC, and president of a local union, accessed AMC accounts to fraudulently convert a total of $124,756 in union funds for her personal use. AMC bank records introduced at trial showed that Porter spent union funds on clothing, beauty and personal care, groceries, electronics, music and books, the Home Shopping Network, and home furnishings. The bank records also showed that Porter made cash withdrawals and wrote checks to herself from union funds in the amount of $24,619. To conceal the fraud, Porter forged the signature of the AMC president on a 2006 fiscal disclosure report.

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Labor Office of Labor-Management Standards, the Las Cruces Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Las Cruces Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen Wong and Richard C. Williams.