Former Steelworkers local union president sentenced for embezzling $10,000
An Elizabeth man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to a charge of embezzlement of labor union assets.
Michael Evanovich, 46, pleaded guilty to one count before U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone.
He was sentenced to 24 months of probation and ordered to pay full restitution and a $5,000 fine, acting U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today. With his conviction, Evanovich is precluded by law from holding union office or employment for 13 years.
According to admissions made during Evanovich’s plea hearing, from April 2021 through April 2023, Evanovich served as the president of United Steelworkers Local Union 1219 located in Braddock.
In March 2024, an anonymous caller reported Evanovich to a United Steelworkers district office for misuse of the union credit card he had been granted for official union business use. An audit of Evanovich’s use of the card by the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor Management Standards revealed that Evanovich had used the credit card for personal matters on at least 100 occasions between November 2021 and December 2023.
According to Rivetti’s office, the personal use purchases included nearly $1,000 for renting a cabana during a union conference, $199 for valet parking for two cars over five days and $214 at a women’s cosmetic store. The Department of Labor calculated that Evanovich embezzled a total of approximately $10,000 from Local 1219.
As Local 1219’s president, Evanovich was responsible for reporting accurate information on the union’s annual financial report, which is filed with the Secretary of Labor. Evanovich was specifically required to report his salary, official disbursements, and personal disbursements. In March 2024, Evanovich signed a financial report that described his annual salary as $94,694, with $1,253 in disbursements for official business.
According to Rivetti’s office, Evanovich knowingly concealed the personal use disbursements he made to himself using the union’s credit card.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan J. McKenna prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Haley Daugherty is a TribLive reporter covering local politics, feature stories and Allegheny County news. A native of Pittsburgh, she lived in Alabama for six years. She joined the Trib in 2022 after graduating from Chatham University. She can be reached at hdaugherty@triblive.com.
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