Sharon Ann Burt, secretary of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 611, was sentenced in federal court to one year in prison for embezzling $72,701 in union funds. Federal prosecutors said that Burt, 49, a resident of Fort Payne, Alabama, in the northeast part of the state, wrote checks without authorization, paid her bills with union money, and doctored bank statements delivered to her personal post office box. She was indicted last May and pleaded guilty to embezzlement and mail fraud in October. Local 611 represented employees at the Earthgrains plant in Fort Payne, which closed in 2005. (Gadsden Times, 3/14/07; Huntsville Times, 3/15/07).
Pittsburgh-Area Local Chieftain Pleads Guilty to Thefts
