(The following report appeared on the Houston Chronicle website on November 17.)
HOUSTON — A federal grand jury has brought more indictments against two officials of the nation’s largest railroad operating union. Byron Alfred Boyd Jr., 57, of Seattle, international president of the United Transportation Union, was indicted on 10 more counts of embezzlement and two counts of witness tampering. Retired President Charles Leonard Little, 69, of Leander was accused of seven more counts of embezzlement.
Boyd; Little; John Russell Rookard, 57, of Olalla, Wash., Boyd’s assistant; and Ralph John Dennis, 51, of Boone, Iowa, former union director of insurance, were accused in September of seeking bribes from attorneys in return for access to union workers injured on the job.
Dennis pleaded guilty last month. The other three are free on $100,000 bail.