Gary Barner, the former treasurer for the union, will serve 12 of the 16 months concurrently with a five year sentence he is currently serving for an aggravated assault in which he shot and beat his father in 2006.
He was also ordered by Judge Robert L. Vining Jr. to pay $28,115.63 back to the union and Zurich of North America, which insured the union’s finances.
According to Assistant United States Attorney David Leta during sentencing, Barner was alleged to have taken $28,115.63 from the union between 2002 and 2006, “writing himself checks and depositing them into his own bank account or cashing checks for his own use.”
“This particular offense wiped out the local, and they had to start all over again,” Leta said.
Before he was sentenced, Barner said his 40 months in prison so far were not just for the crimes he committed, “but for all the things I’ve done wrong in my life.”
“I’m not a bad person. I just made bad decisions in what I did,” he said.
Barner also told the court he was sorry for his actions.
“I apologize to my sister and my wife for the pain I caused them, and to the union members for what I’ve done,” he said.
Barner’s attorney said his client used the funds he stole to help pay his mother’s medical bills incurred from treatment of multiple sclerosis. She died in 2006.
The union that Barner was once treasurer for has 109 members locally and before they merged with the United Steelworkers of America it was the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers.
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