Ex-union official admits to kickback scheme

A former letter carriers union official admitted his role in a scheme to collect kickbacks from postal workers at the Allentown post office in exchange for filing fraudulent overtime claims, prosecutors said.

Joseph Whitbeck, 56, of Tamaqua was charged in April with wire fraud and honest services wire fraud. He pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Edward G. Smith in Easton.

“Union representatives are supposed to act in the best interest of their members, not swindle them out of rightfully earned pay or urge them to participate in fraud,” Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said. “This defendant had a duty to advocate on behalf of all members in the Allentown Post Office in connection with the equitable distribution of overtime grievance settlements. Whitbeck abused his position and for that he will now face the consequences in federal court.”

According to an indictment, Whitbeck was vice president of the Lehigh Valley area branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers when he ran the scheme involving some letter carriers at the Allentown post office. As vice president, Whitbeck filed numerous grievances on behalf of groups of letter carriers alleging violations of overtime rules.

Prosecutors said Whitbeck settled the grievances for lump sums without designating to whom the overtime payments were owed. This allowed Whitbeck to choose who received the money later.

He also offered to obtain extra overtime grievance payments for some letter carriers who agreed to pay a kickback to him, prosecutors said. To induce the letter carriers to participate in the scheme, Whitbeck told the workers that the money they paid would be used to assist colleagues who were out of work, prosecutors said.

The case was investigated by the inspectors general at the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Department of Labor. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Murray.