A former union president is going to prison for stealing more than $300,000 from the rank and file, and blowing some of the loot at Detroit casinos.

Mervin Hak, 59, the former president of Local 1640 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), was sentenced to 30 months in prison for embezzling $300,000 in union funds.

In addition to prison, Hawk was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $362,623 for embezzling union funds, which he pleaded guilty to in November.

According to court records, Hawk was the president of AFSCME Local 1640 in Detroit from 2013 through 2015. As president, Hawk had signatory authority on the union's primary bank account, which he embezzled more than $100,000 from and deposited into his own personal bank account.

Hawk also opened two additional bank accounts in AFSCME's name, but without authorization of the local's executive board, and made himself the sole signer on those accounts. Hawk deposited about $200,000 in union dues into the unauthorized accounts, and then blew the money on himself, including "considerable expenditures at Detroit casinos," prosecutors said.

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“Union leaders hold positions of trust and union members deserve honest representation,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a statement. “When leaders use their positions to line their pockets rather than represent their members, they should expect to face justice.”

Hawk's lawyer, public defender Natasha Webster, had sought to keep her client out of prison, arguing that Hawk was a first-time offender with serious medical issues, including diabetes and heart disease, and that his condition could worsen behind bars. She asked for probation instead.

"At the time of the offense, Mr. Hawk struggled with depression and a gambling issue. Counsel believes that a noncustodial sentence given his age, his medical condition, and his background and characteristics, is sufficient but not greater than necessary to punish an individual like Mr. Hawk," Webster wrote in a court filing.

Webster also wrote that her client had a strict and abusive childhood. Hawk's father was verbally abusive and emotionally unavailable, she said, and he was bullied and

abused in middle school.

But what he did as an adult, prosecutors wrote, warranted a substantial prison sentence. He was supposed to be looking out for his union members, they said, but instead was stealing from them.

"Stealing their dues payments and using it for his own personal amusement represents a particularly egregious violation of this obligation," prosecutors wrote, adding this "was not a momentary lapse of judgment, but rather was an ongoing and brazen pattern of theft lasting over a nearly two-year period."

Prosecutors sought a 34-month prison sentence for Hawk. Under the terms of his guilty plea, he faced 30-37 months. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain gave him 30 months.

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com