Ex-Chief of Flight Attendants Union Avoids Jail

The former president of the local United Airlines' flight attendant union said she stole more than $10,000 in union money to feed an all-consuming gambling addiction.

The addiction ended her three-decade career with the airline and left her in financial shambles, she said in a teary plea to a federal judge Monday.

Chief U.S. District Judge James Holderman sentenced Dianna Rushing, 55, of Palatine, to six months of home confinement and two years probation after she admitted she embezzled $10,452 while she was president of the Association of Flight Attendants Local Executive Council 8.

Rushing resigned her union and company posts after she was charged. As the union president, she had control of the account from which she was stealing, according to court documents.

'IT WAS A GIANT MOUNTAIN'

Rushing said she has since sought professional counseling and continues attending gamblers anonymous meetings.

Rushing said she spent years building up a solid reputation, only for it to be washed away by a gambling compulsion so strong she ramped up credit card debt and even borrowed from her retirement savings account.

"It wasn't this little hill. It was a giant mountain," she said of trying to overcome the addiction.

She was able to keep her addiction from her husband and best friends. When irregularities were first discovered in the union funds she didn't immediately come forward because she knew she had to also confront her gambling issues, she said.

"I think subconsciously I wanted somebody to stop me. I was sending up a lot of flares," Rushing said. "People weren't expecting it from me. This was a tremendous secret. No one knew what I was doing."

Holderman said it was clear to him that Rushing took responsibility for her crime and was rehabilitated to the point where prison was unnecessary. He fined her $2,500 and indicated she voluntarily began making restitution to the union.

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