N.J. carpenters' unions business manager is sentenced for embezzling $85K

Shawn Clark (left), at the Clarkson S. Fisher Federal Courthouse

Kristine Snodgrass/For The Star-Ledger 


SOMERVILLE — The former business manager of a Somerville carpenters union was sentenced today to 28 months in prison for embezzling about $85,000 from the union through unauthorized use of its credit card, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

Shawn Clark, 45, of Branchburg, was convicted in May of one count of conspiracy to embezzle and 14 counts of embezzling from Local 455 of the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.

Prosecutors at the trial presented evidence that Clark had spent $65,000 in seven years at go-go bars across the state, sometimes spending more than $1,000 in a single day, charging it all to an American Express account belonging to the union. Other improper charges to the card included office supplies, postage and restaurants, prosecutors said.

His lawyers had countered that union members had approved the charges as part of his responsibility to solicit business for the union with contractors and construction executives.

In addition to the prison term, Clark was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be determined at a later date, Fishman said.

From about 1996 until June 2008, Clark was employed by the New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters as a business representative, and was also the de facto business manager and a member of Local 455, he said.

Clark was fired from the New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters in June 2008 and was expelled by the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in January 2009 and fined $50,000, he said.