Union officials already accused of attacking workers now indicted on extortion charges
Post Tribune
August 16, 2018
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-steelworker-extortion-indictment-st-0817-story.html
Two union officials have been charged with extortion offenses after being sued for reportedly attacking workers at a construction site in 2016.
Thomas R. Williamson, 67, of Schererville, and Jeffrey R. Veach, 55, of Portage, were arrested Thursday, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana states.
Williamson and Veach were charged in an indictment unsealed Thursday with one count of Hobbs Act extortion conspiracy and two counts of attempted Hobbs Act extortion.
The two made their initial court appearances Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Martin and were released on $20,000 unsecured bond, the release states.
“According to the indictment, Williamson and Veach used threats of violence and actual violence against non-union ironworkers in the course of their extortion plot,” the release states.
They reportedly sought to extort a labor contract from “John Doe #1,” who owned a steelworking company, and a business contract from “John Doe #2,” who owned a construction company, the release states.
The indictment alleges the crimes occurred on Jan. 7, 2016, court records show.
Veach and Williamson were named as two defendants in a lawsuit from a Jan. 7, 2016, incident at a Dyer construction site.
The lawsuit claims Northwest Indiana union members attacked Illinois-based D5 Ironworks employees while they were working at the site of Plumb Creek Christian Academy, at U.S. 231 and Calumet Avenue.
On Jan. 6, 2016, Williamson, a member of Local 395 Ironworkers, approached a D5 worker about using union workers at the site, the lawsuit states. Williamson then went to Dyer Baptist Church, which owned the school, and said “it was unethical to use non-union labor,” according to the lawsuit.
The next day, Williamson returned and got into an argument with a D5 worker, who told Williams to leave, the lawsuit states. Williams then shoved the worker and said, “I’m taking this back to old school,” according to the lawsuit.
Later that day, Williamson, Veach and about 10 other people arrived and attacked the D5 workers, punching, hitting them with scrap wood from the construction site and kicking them with steel-toe boots, the lawsuit states. The attackers said it was union work and their territory, according to the lawsuit.
One of the people attacked suffered a broken jaw and had to be taken to a hospital, according to the lawsuit.
D5 stopped working at the school site after the attack, the lawsuit states.
The civil case is ongoing, court records show.
The Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, FBI and Dyer police investigated the case leading to Williamson’s and Veach’s indictments.
Attorneys Conor Mulroe and Robert Tully of the criminal division’s organized crime and gang section are prosecuting the case with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana.
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