An Oklahoma City police detective investigating sex crimes against an Oklahoma City municipal workers' union says that his investigation revealed claims of embezzlement against the union president.

Detective Clint Dellinger of the Oklahoma City Police Department was investigating sexual assault allegations against William Dale Bryles, 53, president of the Local 2406 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Dellinger says that as he questioned witnesses about the sex crime allegations, several of them "independently alleged Bryles was embezzling money from the union." Two witnesses claimed to have knowledge of Bryles using a union credit card to purchase a refrigerator for his home, and other witnesses accused Bryles of cashing union checks by forging the signature of the former vice president of the Local 2406 AFSCME.

They say his embezzlement became so rampant that they began hiding checkbooks from him. When that happened, they say, he turned to making cash withdrawals from the union bank account.

Dellinger says that bank statements seem to support the witnesses' claims, and reports say that Bryles, who makes $73,330 from the city as a union liaison, has been plagued by financial difficulty, filing for relief in bankruptcy court multiple times and as recently as 2010.

Bryles, under the advice of his attorney, is not commenting on his case.

Det. Dellinger's initial task was to investigate a rape claim against Bryles, who has been accused of rape twice before. In this case, a former union secretary went to police last fall to say that Bryles drugged and raped her in 2005. She said that as a result of counseling, she was finally able to tell her family about the assault and to notify police of the crime against her.

Bryles was also accused of rape in 1999 and 2013, but he has never been charged with a sex crime.

The penalties for embezzlement in Oklahoma vary depending upon the amount of money or value of property embezzled:

 

  • Less than $500 – a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine
  • $500 to less than $1,000 – a felony punishable by a maximum of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine. The person will also be ordered to pay restitution.
  • $1,000 to less than $25,000 – a felony with a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison, a $5,000 fine, and restitution.
  • $25,000 or more – a felony with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $10,000 fine, and restitution.

If a person embezzles public funds, regardless of the amount or value, he or she faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine equal to triple the value of the embezzled property.

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