Former Blair County resident sentenced in federal court, embezzled over $40K

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WTAJ) — A resident of Blaine, Minnesota, was sentenced in federal court after he was convicted of embezzlement and theft of union assets, according to U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan.

Donald Byers, 50, formerly of Tyrone, was sentenced to six months in prison followed by two years of supervised release. Byers will also be subjected to 180 days of house arrest. According to court documents, Byers was the treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Division 287.

From June 2017 through December 2020, Byers used his position to embezzle over $44,000 of union money by issuing more than 50 unauthorized checks to himself.

Byers also falsified a financial report filed with the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and forged the signature of a union officer on many of the checks.

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Prior to imposing the sentence, Judge Colville stated that Byers’s crime was serious and that
incarceration was warranted because of Byers’s criminal history, among other factors.
Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Cessar and Jacqueline Brown prosecuted this case
on behalf of the government.

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