Former state Sen. Tom Cullerton pleaded guilty to embezzlement Tuesday morning, more than two years after he was charged with fraudulently receiving salary and benefits from a labor union despite doing “little or no work.”
Cullerton, of Villa Park, entered the guilty plea to one count of embezzlement during a hearing before a federal judge in Chicago Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
According to the indictment, Cullerton had been a member of the Teamsters Local Union 734 prior to his election as a state senator. After he was elected to that position in 2012, he was no longer eligible to receive health and pension funds from that union. “It was further part of the conspiracy that Cullerton repeatedly failed to respond to efforts by his supervisors at Teamsters Joint Council 25 to contact him and routinely ignored their requests that he perform the job functions of an organizer,” prosecutors said in the indictment.