The 38-year-old Albert Lea man who formerly served as the secretary-treasurer of the Regional and Shortline Committee of Adjustment of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen pleaded guilty on Tuesday to embezzling $35,000 from the union.
Cory A. Carroll’s guilty plea — specifically to one count of theft and embezzlement from a labor organization — took place in front of United States District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson in St. Paul.
In his plea agreement, Carroll admitted that from February 2007 to March 2009, he stole the money by charging personal expenses to his union credit card and by claiming lost wages for days he was not absent from the railroad for union business, according to a United States Attorney’s Office news release.
Carroll faces a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Magnuson will sentence him at a later date.
The case is a result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John F. Docherty.