SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — The former president of the union representing U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in California and Nevada has been convicted of two counts of making false statements and three counts of wire fraud, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds said Jonathon Ortino was convicted by a jury after a five-day trial in the scheme to defraud the union and hide the fraud by submitting false annual financial reports to the Department of Labor.
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Ortino, who was president of the local from September 2013 and September 2017, now faces 70 years in prison — a statutory maximum term of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of making false statements and a statutory maximum term of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of wire fraud.
According to evidence in the case, beginning in February 2014 Ortino improperly took more than $84,000 in union money, using it on himself, his wife, his friends and other associates.
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The evidence also showed that Ortino falsely reported the amount of money paid to him in 2014 and 2016 on the Department of Labor’s Form LM-3 Labor Organization Annual Report, which required Ortino to report, among other things loans and disbursements made to union officers and money received by the union.
On June 4, 2019, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Ortino with three counts of making false statements to a government agency and three counts of wire fraud.
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The jury acquitted Ortino of one count of making false statements.
Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.