Alejandro Stephens dies at 67; controversial labor leader

[The Northerner]

The 'committed, dynamic, and charismatic' Stephens spent 15 years as president of an SEIU local. He was later imprisoned after misusing funds.

Alejandro Stephens, a longtime Los Angeles County union leader who went to prison for misusing funds from a labor nonprofit, died on June 13 of complications of prostate cancer. He was 67.

Stephens, who worked for the county for more than three decades and spent 15 years as president of Local 660 of the Service Employees International Union, died at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, his niece Amber Harris said.

Stephens pleaded guilty in 2009 to federal mail fraud and tax evasion charges stemming from a 2004 scheme in which he steered $52,000 from a voter outreach program to his union reelection campaign. "I made a mistake, OK," Stephens told The Times last year. "I'm ashamed of what I did."

Although he was the only one convicted, federal prosecutors named a number of others as "co-schemers," including Miguel Contreras, the influential labor leader who died in 2005.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-alejandro-stephens-20110620,0,1399324.story