Rock Springs Bookkeeper Admits Stealing From Union for Years

A Rock Springs woman who served as bookkeeper for a local contractors union for 25 years has admitted to stealing nearly $30,000 since 2016, telling police she wrote checks to herself whenever she was “having a hard time paying her bills.”

Toni R. Edwards now faces a single felony theft charge in Sweetwater County Circuit Court, with a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.

The scheme unraveled in November 2025 when a union member’s check for candy bounced—a legitimate expense that should have cleared. When union leaders investigated, they discovered dozens of checks written to Edwards over nearly a decade.

“They knew the checks were fraudulent because all the signatures were the same,” according to an affidavit of probable cause. Once they found one, they began looking back for others and uncovered 49 checks totaling $29,200 issued to Edwards from the Southwest Wyoming Central Labor Union and deposited into her personal accounts.

When confronted by a Rock Springs police investigator in January, Edwards didn’t deny it. She verified each check, acknowledged depositing the money, and “admitted to taking the money without permission, and it was not her money to use,” the affidavit states.

Edwards explained she was struggling financially—a new trailer, power shutoffs, mounting medical bills. “She stated she was having a hard time paying her bills a lot of the time,” the document says.

Union President Marshal Cummings, recently elected and unfamiliar with Edwards, said the betrayal stings precisely because help would have been available.

“To have that kind of moral compass and steal from people who would have willingly helped her, that’s heartbreaking,” Cummings told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s upsetting someone would take advantage like that.”

He emphasized that the union’s internal audit proved its safeguards work. “Our members work too hard for their money,” he said. “I’m happy we discovered it, I’m happy we’ll recoup as much as we can from her.”

Edwards has been summoned to appear in Sweetwater County Circuit Court on March 12.