A Kentucky man has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $40,000 from a Huntington-based labor union, federal prosecutors said.
James Burke, 55, of Grayson, Kentucky, entered a guilty plea Tuesday to embezzlement of labor union assets, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Prosecutors said Burke served as a financial secretary for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 549. During that time, he issued checks to himself, diverted union checks for personal use and withheld portions of checks as cash.
The embezzlement took place over roughly a year between 2022 and 2023, according to court records.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 26. Burke faces up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a possible fine of up to $250,000.
He has also been ordered to pay $40,011.47 in restitution and is barred from holding office in a labor organization for 13 years.