By FRANK LEWIS

PDT Staff Writer

A former office secretary with a local union and her husband have entered guilty pleas to a charge of embezzling funds from that union.

According to the U.S. District Court Southern Division in Cincinnati, Marqueeta Tibbs, former office secretary for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 437, appeared in court and entered a guilty plea to one count of embezzling funds from the Portsmouth-based union in the amount of $84,903 on January 25. Then, a month later, on Feb. 24, her husband, Zeffrey Tibbs, entered the same plea of guilty to embezzlement of the same amount.

“It doesn’t look as if they have a disposition on the case yet,” a spokeswoman for the Southern District Court clerk’s office said. “It is still not closed.”

The spokeswoman said no date has been set for determining what the outcome of the case will be, pending a pre-sentence investigation report.

The indictments and guilty pleas followed an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

The Times was unable to reach Business Manager Trampis Puckett for comment on Wednesday.

Frank Lewis may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 232, or at flewis@heartlandpublications.com.