Ex-head of Steelworkers local charged with embezzlement
CLEVELAND (AP) – The former president of a union that represents crew members on lake ships has been indicted in federal court on multiple counts of embezzlement and other charges for allegedly receiving $400,000 in illegal payments.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cleveland said 58-year-old David Sager, of Gibsonburg in northwest Ohio, received $185,000 from a Steelworkers Local 5000 strike fund in 2009 after making claims for household expenses he wasn’t entitled to receive.
The indictment unsealed Wednesday charges him with embezzlement, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. Sager was union president from 1999 until April.
Sager also is accused of receiving around $200,000 in illegal payments from several companies. A U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman declined to say why the companies paid him.
Sager’s federal public defender couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.