Ex-Illinois state senator gets prison in embezzlement case

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Chicago (AP) — A former Illinois state senator has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Teamsters union for a no-show job.

Thomas Cullerton, a Democrat from the Chicago suburb of Villa Park, was sentenced Tuesday on a federal embezzlement charge for fraudulently receiving salary and benefits from the union, according to the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

The 52-year-old Cullerton pleaded guilty in March, two weeks after he abruptly resigned from the Legislature. He admitted that he improperly took more than $240,000 from the Teamsters.

He has agreed to pay $248,828 in restitution.