Gary Rodrigues repays $378K to UPW
Gary Rodrigues, the former longtime Hawaii director of the United Public Workers Local 646, has paid the labor union $378,103 in restitution as part of a court order resulting from his 2002 embezzlement conviction, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Monday.
A federal jury convicted Rodrigues and his daughter, Robin Haunani Rodrigues Sabatini, of embezzling money from the union and taking kickbacks in connection with an employee welfare benefit plan in November 2002.
Both were also found guilty of mail fraud, health-care fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
In 2003, Rodrigues was sentenced to more than five years in prison and Sabatini was sentenced to nearly four years but both remained free on bail while they appealed their convictions guaranteed payday loan.
Their appeals were denied by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in 2007. They tried to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court but the appeals were declined in 2008.
Rodrigues is serving his sentence in a federal prison in Taft, Calif. and his daughter is imprisoned at a federal facility in Dublin, Calif.