Janalyn Buseck won’t be acquiring a criminal record. But that doesn’t absolve her of having to return what she stole from her union. Buseck, formerly secretary-treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2595, in early September agreed in Yuma County Superior Court to complete the return of the roughly $5,000 she’d taken over a two-year period. In return, prosecutors dismissed a pair of embezzlement charges against her. Not long after the settlement, she made her final payment. The payments do not constitute an admission of guilt.
Buseck, 45, had been indicted in July 2006 for diverting local funds to pay off credit card bills between 2002 and 2004, following an audit of union finances by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. Prosecutor Conrad Mallek said the case was dismissed for several reasons, particularly the difficulties the county prosecutor’s office had been experiencing in gathering evidence. As part of her agreement, Buseck will be barred from holding a money-handling position with any union for 13 years. The local represents U.S. Border Patrol agents working along the Yuma sector. (Associated Press, 9/19/07).