Jury deliberations continue in Boilermakers racketeering conspiracy trial in KCK
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- Jury deliberations continued through a 2nd day in the monthlong union racketeering trial.
- Four former Boilermakers face charges of embezzling $20 million in union funds.
- Judge Crabtree acquitted one defendant on the racketeering conspiracy charge last week.
Jury deliberations continued through a second day on Wednesday in the monthlong racketeering trial of four former Boilermakers charged with embezzling millions from their Kansas City-based union.
Senior U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree submitted the case to jurors just before noon on Tuesday in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. No verdict had been reached by Wednesday evening, and deliberations were scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Thursday.
The defendants are accused of using union funds for salaries and benefits for no-show jobs, luxury international travel, fine dining, vacation payouts and unauthorized loans.
“These defendants, they took and they took and they took money that didn’t belong to them,” prosecutor Faiza Alhambra told jurors during closing arguments on Monday. “The men and women who are members of this union … every dollar they own matters to them and their families. It is their money that was stolen. They are the reason we are here.”
On trial are former International President Newton Jones, 72, who was removed from office by his executive council in 2023 for allegedly misusing union funds, and his wife, Kateryna, 33, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; former International Secretary-Treasurer William Creeden, 78, of Kearney, Missouri; and former International Vice President Lawrence McManamon, 78, of Rocky River, Ohio.
The trial is being held in Kansas City, Kansas, because the alleged crimes occurred when the union was based there. Its headquarters was relocated to Kansas City in 2023.
The defendants are among seven former union members indicted in August 2024 for conspiracy to commit offenses under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as embezzlement, health care fraud, wire fraud and other felonies.
Newton Jones and Creeden both face 44 felony counts, Kateryna Jones is charged with 10 counts and McManamon has six.
Last week, Crabtree acquitted McManamon on the racketeering conspiracy charge on the grounds that the evidence against him was insufficient to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Three others charged in the case — including another international president — pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy prior to the trial. They have not yet been sentenced.
Throughout the trial, defense attorneys maintained that the spending prosecutors labeled as embezzlement was transparent and in accordance with the union’s constitution. They also said that the government could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants intended to join a criminal racketeering conspiracy.
“Nobody can say when the agreement occurred, what the agreement was,” said Newton Jones’ attorney, Pat McInerney, during his closing argument Monday. “There was no conspiracy at all.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 6:20 PM.
