Former VA Hospital Union Boss Arrested

MANHATTAN (CN) - The former president of a Veterans Affairs hospital workers union local was arrested Thursday and charged with stealing $112,477 from the union.

Federck C. Petro, president of Local 2094 of the American Federation of Government Employees from February 2006 through July 2008, "wrote approximately 187 checks to himself from the Union's checking account, totaling approximately $112,477," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement announcing his arrest.

Petro wrote "supplies" or "taxes" in the memo lines on the checks he wrote himself, prosecutors said, but when Petro was removed from office, the union owed more than $70,000 in state and federal taxes, and workmen's comp.

Petro, 57, of Brooklyn, faces up to 5 years in prison if convicted of theft of union funds while on federal property.

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