Nashville, TN - September 21, 2007- Joe T. Everson, of Memphis, Tennessee, pled guilty today to making false statements in connection with a federal investigation surrounding the July 2007 discovery of surveillance equipment at the Nashville Fraternal Order of Police’s Andrew Jackson Police Youth Camp, announced Paul M. O’Brien, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, My Harrison, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Memphis Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Mark Gwyn, Director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), and Douglas J. Colon, SAC of the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) Office of Inspector General-Regional Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations.

Joe T. Everson

Everson pled guilty before United States District Judge William J. Haynes, Jr. to a one-count information charging him with making false statements, described below, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001(a)(2). Judge Haynes scheduled Everson’s sentencing for January 25, 2008.

According to the Information and facts admitted by Everson in the plea hearing and in his plea agreement with the Government, Everson was contacted in May of this year by “Individual A,” who was interested in the purchase and installation of surveillance equipment at the Andrew Jackson Police Youth Camp. The Andrew Jackson Police Youth Camp is a camp for underprivileged children that is operated by the Nashville-based Andrew Jackson Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police (hereinafter, “Nashville FOP”). Individual A was an employee of Local 327 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union in competition with the Nashville FOP. After agreeing on a price, Everson met Individual A and another person in Nashville, Tennessee on June 9, 2007. At this meeting, Everson received $5,000 in the form of a check drawn on a Teamsters Local 327 bank account as payment for both the surveillance equipment and Everson’s services in installing the equipment.

Further, according to the facts admitted by Everson, later on June 9, Everson and the two other individuals broke into the Andrew Jackson Police Youth Camp and installed the surveillance equipment in order to record activities at the camp. On or about July 11, 2007, the surveillance equipment was discovered.

The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the presence of the surveillance equipment, according to the facts admitted by Everson, was a matter within the jurisdiction of both the USDOL and the United States Department of Justice, which agreed to assist in the investigation. In the course of the investigation into the installation of the surveillance equipment, Everson was interviewed by agents of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, where Everson knowingly provided material false information to the interviewing TBI agents.

Specifically, Defendant falsely told investigators, among other things, that he did not go the Andrew Jackson Police Youth Camp and did not install any of the equipment.

“Providing false information during any government investigation, including one that relates to the U.S. Department of Labor’s important task of supervising labor and union matters, can never be tolerated. Whenever this occurs, we will take necessary action, including prosecution when appropriate,” said U.S. Attorney Paul M. O’Brien.

The case was investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and USDOL Office of Inspector General.

U.S. Attorney Paul M. O’Brien and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eli J. Richardson and Bradley P. Shepard represent the United States.