Another Union Embezzled for Casino Cash

Should this surprise anyone?

A "very remorseful" Norwell firefighter/paramedic accused of emptying his union’s bank account was arraigned Thursday in Hingham District Court, where his attorney said the defendant regretted his “unfortunate infraction.”

Truong Nguyen, wearing restraints on both his wrists and his ankles, told the court through his attorney that he was willing to pay restitution to the Norwell firefighters’ union, from which he allegedly embezzled about $46,000.

Morrill told the court that Nguyen, who served as the union’s treasurer for four years, suffers from a gambling addiction.

The unions are being truly stupid on this issue, which is frustrating for someone like myself, who is so supportive of unions. This, by the way, is on top of the $800,000+ embezzled from the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state's largest union, to fuel an employee's casino addiction, and $200,000+ embezzled from a NY union due to a casino addiction. All of these have happened in just a few, short years.

People don't realize the damage one casino addict can do to families, businesses and communities. It's been estimated that each single addict brings $13,000 of costs to society, much of which is because of the addicts who embezzle or steal to pay for their addictions. When one person can steal $50k, another $200k and another $800k from unions in the greater region in just a few, short years, it's easy to see why.