On June 21, Patricia Peoples, former secretary-treasurer of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1820, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to embezzling $39,019.67 from the Pontiac, Mich.-based union. Peoples took the money by writing union checks to herself or to members of her family, receiving improper lost time payments, and diverting union checks and electronic bank deposits to her own account. She had been charged with an information count on April 26. The charge and guilty plea follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
