The former president of a union that represents about 140 Denver-based federal employees has pleaded guilty to felony theft for embezzling at least $5,500 from the organization.
Heather Lynn Grover, a loan specialist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, was ordered to repay the union and sentenced to a two-year diversion after which the felony charge may be dismissed, said Jefferson County District Attorney spokeswoman Pam Russell. A misdemeanor theft charge will remain on her record.
Grover was president of the American Federation of Government Employees AFL-CIO Local 1557 from November 2006 to March 2008. She has admitted to investigators that she made cash withdrawals and cashed checks from the Lakewood-based union’s account for her personal use.
“Grover concealed her embezzlement by making false entries on check memo lines,” a Jefferson County investigator wrote in a report on the case.
Reached at work Monday, Grover declined to comment.
The U.S. Department of Labor began investigating Grover in January 2009 after being alerted to suspicious activity in the union account by AFGE Local 1557 president Joe Birge, who replaced Grover in March 2008 after an election.
Birge told union members in a recent e-mail that he discovered discrepancies in the account soon after he took over and approached Grover. He said Grover admitted to him that she took union money and agreed to pay it back.
But Birge said he later learned that he and other officers could be held liable if they did not report the theft. Labor Department investigators alleged that Grover took nearly $7,900, but prosecutors were able to prove only $5,500 of that, Russell said.
Greg Griffin: 303-954-1241 or ggriffin@denverpost.com
