On August 18, Mechelle Busse, aka Mechelle Singleton, former office manager of United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 568 in Gulfport, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on one count of embezzling $110,117.69 in union funds during June 2005-December 2007. Busse, a native of the Philippines, pleaded not guilty. The indictment follows a probe by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
