UAW official from Missouri charged in Detroit in wide corruption and embezzlement probe
DETROIT (AP) - A Missouri-based official at the United Auto Workers has been charged in Detroit with corruption in an alleged scheme to embezzle union money and also spend cash on golf clubs, cigars and swanky stays in California.
Vance Pearson of St. Charles, Missouri, was arrested Thursday. He is director of UAW's Region 5, which covers thousands of union members in more than a dozen states. Pearson is the 10th person charged in an investigation of union finances. But most of the corruption cases so far have centered on a Detroit training center jointly run by the UAW and Fiat Chrysler.
Pearson was due to appear in federal court in St. Louis. It wasn't immediately known if he has a lawyer who could comment.
Nine people have been convicted.