United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi

10/03/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/04/2022 08:13

Laurel Man Pleads Guilty to Falsification of an Annual Financial Report Filed by a Labor Union

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney's Office
Southern District of Mississippi
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 3, 2022

Laurel Man Pleads Guilty to Falsification of an Annual Financial Report Filed by a Labor Union

Gulfport, Miss.- A Laurel man pled guilty to falsification of an annual financial report filed by a labor union, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Supervisory Investigator Tara Thibodaux of the U. S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards, in New Orleans.

According to court documents, on February 8, 2018, Benton Ryals, Jr. a/k/a B. J. Ryals, 70, while holding the position of financial secretary with the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 1437, in Laurel, Mississippi, failed to disclose a material fact in an annual financial report required to be filed by the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 1437, with the Secretary of Labor. Specifically, Ryals knowingly failed to disclose in form LM-3, for the union's fiscal year for January 1, 2017, through December 31, 2017, disbursements he received for personal use. Ryals used debit cards and checks written from the branch's checking account for his own personal bill payments.

Ryals will be sentenced on January 24, 2023, at 1:30 p.m., in Hattiesburg. He faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $10,000 fine. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case was investigated by the U. S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones.