Former Union Official Pleads Guilty To Stealing More Than $180,000 from Organization
Defendant Headed Branch of Fraternal Order of Police
WASHINGTON – Takisha Brown Dorsey, a former union official with the Fraternal Order of Police, pled guilty today to a federal charge stemming from the theft of more than $180,000 from the organization, announced U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Andrew Vale, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
Brown Dorsey, 41, of Waldorf, Md., pled guilty to a charge of wire fraud, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The charge carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and potential financial penalties. Under federal sentencing guidelines, she faces a likely range of 15 to 21 months in prison and a fine of up to $75,000. She is to be sentenced on June 1, 2017, by the Honorable Reggie B. Walton. The plea agreement calls for Brown Dorsey to pay $183,590 in restitution and an identical amount in a forfeiture money judgment.
According to a statement of offense, signed by the defendant as well as the government, Brown Dorsey took office in January 2012 as the elected chairperson of the union representing correctional officers employed by the District of Columbia Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS). She led the Fraternal Order of Police-DYRS, which has approximately 240 members, through December 2015. As chairperson, Brown Dorsey, who also was a correctional officer, had access to union funds and was authorized to spend union money in accordance with bylaws.
In 2014, Brown Dorsey removed a safeguard requiring a second signature on all union checks, making herself the only required signatory. She also was the only one who had access to the union’s bank account and the ATM card that was associated with it. On Nov. 24, 2015, the union took a vote of no confidence in Brown Dorsey, and soon after that, members of the union’s executive board visited the Bank of America to inquire about the union’s finances. The balance was only $277, even though more than $100,000 in union dues were deposited into the account in calendar 2015. At the time that Brown Dorsey resigned, in December 2015, the union was about $92,000 in debt; at the beginning of her tenure, the union had a balance of $49,100.
A subsequent investigation determined that, from April 2013 through December 2015, Brown Dorsey withdrew, debited, or transferred approximately $183,590 from the union’s bank account for her personal use or for deposit into her personal account.
In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Phillips and Assistant Director in Charge Vale commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office. They also expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Aisha Keys and Kristy Penny, former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Vesna Harasic-Yaksic, who assisted with forfeiture issues, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kendra D. Briggs, who is prosecuting the matter.
