For nearly four years, Susan Haugen saw her union as a private bank. Now she’s likely to spend some time in a public prison. On January 26, Haugen, former treasurer of the state affiliate of the American Postal Workers Union, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of South Dakota to one count of embezzlement of funds in the amount of $30,782 from the Huron, S.D.-based union. She had been indicted in November 2014 on three counts of stealing a combined more than $36,000 following a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
According to prosecutors, Haugen, currently age 56 or 57, during May 2010-March 2014 had made slightly more than $25,000 in unauthorized cash withdrawals from the union bank account. She also had used the union credit and debit cards to cover roughly another $11,000 in unauthorized personal expenses. No sentencing date yet has been set.