Ex Electrical Union Pres Gets Prison For Embezzlement, Tax Fraud, More

PHILADELPHIA — The former president of Philadelphia's electrician union will spend four years in prison and will forfeit more than $135,000 after being convicted of embezzlement and tax fraud, federal authorities said

United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero Wednesday said Brian Burrows, 64, of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, was sentenced to 48 months in prison, three years of supervised release, forfeiture of $135,689.11, an $1,800 special assessment, and restitution to be determined later.

The sentencing stems from crimes related to his embezzlement of funds belonging to Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Burrows served as the President of Local 98 since 2008. The only person who held a higher office in the union was his co-defendant, Business Manager John Dougherty.

In January 2019, a federal grand jury indicted Dougherty, Burrows, and other union officers and employees with conspiracy and embezzlement arising from their theft and improper use of approximately $600,000 in Local 98 funds from April 2010 through August 2016.

The indictment also charged Dougherty and Burrows with concealing the embezzlement of Local 98’s funds by causing false labor management reports to be filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. It also charged them with filing false federal income tax returns by failing to report the funds they stole on their tax returns.

In December 2023, a federal jury convicted Dougherty and Burrows of conspiracy to embezzle the funds of Local 98. Dougherty is scheduled to be sentenced July 11.

Burrows was also convicted of 13 counts of embezzlement of funds from Local 98, two counts of causing false statements to be made on the form LM-2 that Local 98 was required to file annually with the Department of Labor for 2015 and 2016, two counts of causing false information to be reflected in the books and records of Local 98 for those years, and three counts of filing false federal income tax returns.

The charges Burrows was convicted of included the illegal use of about $391,000 in union funds to improve and repair his home, the homes of Dougherty and Michael Neill, commercial properties owned by him and his co-defendants, and the homes of Dougherty’s relatives.

The other officers and employees of Local 98 charged in the indictment pleaded guilty in 2022 to charges related to their embezzlement of Local 98’s funds and were sentenced earlier this year. They are Michael Neill, former Director of Local 98’s Apprentice Training Fund; Marita Crawford, former Political Director of Local 98; Niko Rodriguez, an employee of the Apprentice Training Fund and Local 98; and Brian Fiocca, an employee of Local 98.