Shappee gets 8 months for stealing from union

A former city worker accused of embezzling from his union was sentenced Monday to spend eight months in jail.

Kimball Township resident Chad Shappee pleaded guilty in Circuit Court in July to embezzlement of $20,000 to $50,000, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He is a former backhoe operator for Port Huron’s utilities division and had been the treasurer of the Utility Workers Union of America union since 2006.

For five years, Shappee stole money from the union by writing checks to himself, said Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Lisa Wisniewski. Shappee’s attorney, Frank Mitchell, asked Judge Cynthia Lane to not sentence Shappee to jail so that he could do his new job, driving a truck for Alco Transportation.

In July, Shappee paid more than $60,000 in restitution by borrowing money from a family member. He told the court he needed to maintain his employment to pay the person back.

“I am very embarrassed and ashamed of what I’ve done,” he said. “I’ve done everything in my power to try to make this right. I plead with the court to let me keep working to pay back my family member who loaned me the money.”

Douglas Tramski, supervisor of the Utility Workers Union of America, gave a victim impact statement before Lane imposed sentencing.

“There should be some type of consequences,” he said. “There was some serious damage done. That (the sentence) is only going to be a slap on the wrist is a slap to this whole, entire system.”

Mitchell argued that because Shappee’s criminal record was “pretty clean,” with only convictions for drunken driving and disturbing the peace, he should be allowed to serve probation and keep his job.

“Mr. Shappee suffered many consequences at the result of his actions,” Mitchell told the court. “He is remorseful because of his actions. He no longer has that job. A lot of the people in his union are no longer his friends. He no longer has the position as the (Clyde Township) assistant fire chief.”

Mitchell added that the union workers have been “made whole” because Shappee paid his restitution.

Lane said with choices come consequences, and that Shappee abused his position of trust within his union.

“It’s not just the union that was stolen from; you stole from your brothers and sisters, and that’s really serious,” she said. “It’s the court’s feeling that punishment is in order. There have to be consequences for violating a trust.”

Shappee was given 24 hours to get his affairs in order and will begin his sentence in the St. Clair County jail Tuesday.

Contact Sydney Smith at (810) 989-6259 or ssmith10@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @SydneyS_mith.