Union Representative Charged in Bribery Scheme

A criminal information was filed today charging Thomas E. Miller, age 64, of Dunlap, Tennessee, with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery in federally funded programs, announced Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

The information charges that Miller, while serving as a special representative of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (“BLET”), took bribes from an attorney seeking to represent injured union members. The information charges that Robert L. (“Pete”) McKinney, a Houston plaintiff’s personal injury attorney specializing in representing injured railroad workers, paid the bribes to Miller and Edward W. Rodzwicz, national president of the BLET, which is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Labor union corruption will not be tolerated and should be a thing of the past,” Dettelbach said. “Today’s filing demonstrates our commitment to prosecuting all those involved, whether they are the self-dealing union official or a licensed attorney seeking union business.”

James Vanderberg, Special Agent in Charge for the Chicago Regional Office of the United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, said: “Today’s action highlights the efforts of the Office Inspector General to identify and bring to justice a union official who allegedly solicited and accepted bribes from an attorney seeking access to the union. The union official’s actions represent a betrayal of the trust placed in him by the union members.”

In order to facilitate the retention of qualified and experienced FELA attorneys by its injured members, the BLET maintains a list of designated attorneys who are held out to its members as competent and professional FELA attorneys. The members of this list are referred to as Designated Legal Counsel (“DLC”) attorneys.

Designation status on the DLC list provides a FELA attorney with valuable access to BLET members as potential clients, and to local BLET officials as sources of information and referrals concerning accidents and workers. The BLET affirmatively recommends the DLC attorneys to its members for FELA-related and other business. As national president, Rodzwicz had authority over the designation status of DLC attorneys.

From in or about June 2006, and continuing until in or about October 2009, Miller conspired with McKinney and Rodzwicz to unjustly enrich himself and Edward W. Rodzwicz by receiving cash bribes in exchange for placing McKinney on the DLC list for BLET workers and to have BLET workers directed to his firm, according to the information. The conspirators referred to these payments as “campaign contributions” in an effort to conceal the true nature of the payments.

The information states that the conspirators accomplished this by meeting in a hotel parking lot where McKinney delivered large cash payments to Miller. McKinney would also have large sums of cash delivered to Miller at BLET Conventions. Edward W. Rodzwicz and Miller would then split the cash payments.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin J. Roberts, following an investigation by the Cleveland offices of the U.S. Department of Labor, OIG Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri also provided assistance.

An information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.