(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Acting U.S. Attorney Troy Revetti announced yesterday that forty-six-year-old Michael Evanovich of Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzlement of labor union assets and was sentenced to 24 months of probation and ordered to pay full restitution and a $5,000 fine. According to admissions made during Evanovich’s plea hearing, from April of 2021 through April of 2023, Evanovich served as the president of United Steelworkers Local Union 1219 located in Braddock, Pennsylvania. A caller that was anonymous reported Evanovich to a United Steelworkers district office for misuse of the union credit card he had been granted for official union business use in March of 2024. Between November of 2021 and December of 2023, Evanovich used the credit card for matters that were personal on at least 100 occasions was revealed by an audit of Evanovich’s use of the card by the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. According to Revetti, these purchases for the personal use of Evanovich 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. It was calculated by the Department of Labor that a total of approximately $10,000 from Local Union 1219 was embezzled by Evanovich, who knew that he kept the disbursements for personal use he made to himself using the credit card of Local Union 1219. According to Revetti, Evanovich is precluded by law from holding union office or employment for 13 years.