RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA – Four family members were arrested Wednesday for 
allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a labor union, according to officials.
The four, of Loma Linda, were named in a 40-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury on Jan. 21. They are charged with conspiring to embezzle from the health plan for the United Industrial and Service Workers of America Local 101, which serves members in the Inland Empire, officials said.
Over the course of eight years, the defendants allegedly misappropriated a total of approximately $900,000 in union funds.
If they are convicted of the charges, the four defendants would face decades in federal prison, authorities said.
Those arrested Wednesday morning, all residents of Loma Linda, are:
John S. Romero, 68, the former president of USIWA;
Evelyn Romero, 66, John S. Romero’s wife, who succeeded her husband as president of USIWA and served in that position until June 2014;
John J. Romero, 50, who is the son of John S. and Evelyn Romero and who is the former secretary/treasurer of USIWA; and
Danae Romero, 37, who is the daughter of John S. and Evelyn Romero and who served as an officer in the union.
The indictment charges the defendants with conspiring to embezzle assets from the UISWA Health Plan, which was a program intended to provide healthcare benefits to union members.
The indictment includes filing false annual reports to the U.S. Department of Labor that didn’t disclose more than $100,000 in union revenues and disbursements. Also the defendants are accused of misusing the union and health plan assets.
The defendants allowed a Romero-family member who was convicted of a felony drug crime to serve as an officer and employee of the union, officials said.
The indictment alleges that some of the Health Plan’s bank accounts were held in the name of a construction company associated with the Health Plan’s third party administrator, through which the Romero family received payments without the knowledge of consent of the Health Plan’s second trustee.
It is further alleged that the Romero family controlled the Health Plan’s reserve fund accounts and used those assets for their personal benefit.
The defendants family allegedly used union funds for the following reasons:
- Pay personal and union-related legal fees and judgments levied against them
- Systematically making payments of Health Plan assets to a separate business entity they operated under false pretenses
- Fund a payroll account that had been established using the name and employer identification number of a previous labor union they had been in control of that had since terminated operations
- Pay off a car loan for a vehicle belonging to another Romero family member
- Recirculating assets from the Health Plan’s reserve fund to its operating account to cover the insurance expenses for their own healthcare benefits that were billed to the union.
Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty