Pensacola, Florida – Clarence Penny, 40, of Pace, Florida, pleaded guilty to eight counts of bank fraud, one count of embezzlement of labor union funds, and three counts of falsification of labor union reports.
U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “This defendant violated the position of trust he occupied in his union to personally enrich himself with the dues paid by his hard-working colleagues, and he attempted to conceal his criminal conduct by falsifying financial records he was required to maintain. Thanks to the excellent investigative work by our federal law enforcement partner and the aggressive prosecution by my office, this fraudster’s scheme has been dismantled and federal prison awaits him.”
Court documents reflect that the defendant served as the Treasurer for the Steelworkers, AFL-CIO, Local 09 444 Chapter of the United Steelworkers International Labor Union from May 2015 to October 2023. Between January 2020 and May 2023, the defendant wrote 66 unauthorized checks to himself from the Union’s bank account, and he used those fraudulently derived proceeds on personal expenses. In total, the defendant stole $94,586.53. Penny also provided fake account balances and false statements on annual financial reports in 2020, 2021, and 2022, to conceal his ongoing theft of funds.
Penny faces up to 30 years’ imprisonment for each count of bank fraud; up to five years’ imprisonment for the embezzlement count; and up to one year imprisonment for each count of falsification of labor union reports.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. Assistant United States Attorneys Brooke Lindsay and Walter Narramore are prosecuting the case.
Sentencing is scheduled for September 17, 2026, at 10:30am in the United States Courthouse in Pensacola before U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access available public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl.
