KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The former recording secretary of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen Union pleaded guilty in federal court in Kansas City to embezzling more than $50,000 from union funds.
David L. Scofield, 65, of Independence, pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of bank fraud, one count of embezzlement theft of labor union funds and one count of falsification of an annual financial report filed by a union, according to a press release from the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri.
According to a court document, Scofield was elected to the position of recording secretary in 2005 and was in that job until November 2023.
He oversaw the union's finances by keeping track of the money, making sure dues were collected and given to the union, recording minutes of the quarterly membership meetings and preparing and signing off on attesting to the accuracy of the union's finances, the court document states.
His crimes included 92 times that he wrote checks payable to cash and making a counter withdrawal of $32,450 from the union's general checking account at Central Bank of the Midwest, according to the court document.
He also used union money 54 times to make online payments to his credit cards and personal loans totaling more than $4,000.
According to the news release, Schofield must pay $54,412.67 and could face up to 30 years in federal prison without parole on the bank fraud accusations.
Sentencing is set for March 31, 2026.
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