A federal grand jury for the District of Nebraska indicted Jacob Wilkins, 42, on three counts, according to information released by the U.S. attorney for the District of Nebraska. Wilkins is charged with one count of embezzlement and theft of labor union assets on or about July 25, 2016, and continuing to on or about Aug. 12, 2021. The maximum possible penalty if convicted is five years of imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release and a $100 special assessment.

In a second count, Wilkins has been charged with falsification, concealment or destruction of financial records required to be kept by labor union on or about Jan. 1, 2018, and continuing to on or about Sept. 10, 2019. A third count charges Wilkins with falsification, concealment or destruction of financial records required to be kept by a labor union on or about Jan. 1, 2019, and continuing to on or about March 31, 2020. On both counts, the maximum possible penalty, if convicted, is one year in prison, a $10,000 fine, three years of supervised release and a $25 special assessment.

Wilkins is the second former representative of NALC Branch 1836 to be charged within the last year.

In January, a federal grand jury indicted Donald Fox, 54, of Bayard on one count of embezzlement and theft of labor union assets and four counts of falsification of an annual financial report filed by the labor union. According to that indictment, Fox, acting as secretary-treasurer of the union branch, had been accused of embezzling $24,620.12 from the union for his own use and falsifying annual financial reports from 2017-2020.