NC union boss spent dues on coyote urine and guns, feds say. Now he’s going to prison
The one-time head of a major meatpackers’ union in the Carolinas — accused of embezzling workers’ money to pay for everything from guns to groceries — is going to prison for more than a year, according to the Justice Department.
He also has to pay back more than $200,000.
Keith Alan Ludlum, 48, was sentenced to 14 months and ordered to pay $213,201.05 in restitution after he pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges earlier this year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced in a news release Wednesday.
“Ludlum betrayed the trust of the union membership who rightfully expected him, as a union official, to protect and safeguard their union’s funds and assets,” H. Craig Neel, district director of the Office of Labor-Management Standards, said in the release.
As president of Local 1208 from 2012 to 2015, Ludlum was indicted in a conspiracy to steal funds using the union debit card and checks.
Local 1208, the Bladenboro chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, has 3,600 members — including workers at the massive Smithfield Foods plant in eastern North Carolina.
Ludlum was indicted in April 2019 on conspiracy and embezzlement charges. According to the indictment, he spent more than $250,000 in union funds on personal items and vacations, including:
- Trips to the Dominican Republic and SeaWorld costing nearly $6,000 and $500, respectively
- A $900 shopping spree at Michael Kors
- At least 10 visits to BJ’s Wholesale Club, spending over $2,000
- Coyote urine, sugarbeet deer attractant, fishing bait, a $436 semiautomatic handgun and a .12 gauge shotgun from Gander Mountain
- Souvenirs from the U.S. Open
- $15,000 on two all-terrain vehicles (ATVs)
- Nearly $2,000 on car insurance
He pleaded guilty to the scheme in January, The News & Observer reported.
Former union secretary-treasurer Terry Slaughter also pleaded guilty to federal embezzlement charges and agreed to repay $62,315 in 2018, according to The N&O. He was sentenced in February to six months in prison.
“If there was anyone here who was affected, I’m sorry,” Slaughter told the court during his sentencing hearing, The N&O reported. “It hurts me more that I hurt them (union workers) and my family.”
During Slaughter’s sentencing, Prosecutor Tobin W. Lathan noted Ludlum’s crimes were more serious, saying the former president also “bought marijuana and rented several cars with union money,” according to The N&O.
Both men had financial oversight while working for the union. They were accused of misusing funds in 2014, which was later confirmed by the UFCW and an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, Lathan told The N&O.
