Former Alabama union president pleads guilty in $69k theft

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A former union president has admitted to stealing more than $69,000 from a local Oxford, Alabama chapter.

Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey said in a news release that 44-year-old Michael Lackey, of Bremen, Georgia, pleaded guilty Tuesday to five counts of bank fraud and one count of embezzlement and theft of union funds.

Lackey was the president of the Communications Workers of America, Local 3901, from 2008 until 2014. He was indicted in November after authorities said he wrote checks to himself for unauthorized or nonexistent travel expenses and used the union’s money for personal expenses.

Lackey has agreed to repay about $69,000 to the union and forfeit that same amount to the government as proceeds of illegal activity. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 25.