Compliance December 17, 2007

Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Plan Funds

December 17, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania announced that the owner and operator of E. R. Caldwell Land Clearing Contractors, Inc., located in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, has pled guilty to theft from an employee benefit plan.
Reported by

Assistant United States Attorney Kay B. Lee advised a U.S. District Court that William R. McAnulty stole and converted to his own use and the use of another individual approximately $29,660.00 from E. R. Caldwell Land Clearing Contractors, Inc.’s employee profit sharing plan, according to the announcement.  

McAnulty could face five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both when he is sentenced on April 4, 2008.   Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the sentence imposed will be based on the seriousness of the offense and the criminal history, if any, of the defendant, the announcement said.

An investigator with the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) conducted the investigation which led to the charge.

“Theft of employee benefit assets jeopardizes the benefits of America’s workers,” said Bradford P. Campbell, assistant secretary of labor for the EBSA, in the announcement.   “The Labor Department is committed to protection of workers’ benefits by identifying criminal activity wherever and whenever it occurs.”

«