PITTSBURGH — A one-time top United Steelworkers official from Butler County was spared prison time but will serve 2 years’ probation for embezzling union funds.

Charles Rocha, 44, of Cranberry Township was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine as part of his sentence handed down Tuesday in federal court in Pittsburgh.

Rocha, 44, pleaded guilty in March to pilfering $418.68 in union funds to cover expenses related to a 2009 trip to Detroit to attend an NHL Stanley Cup game, according to court documents

Rocha is the former national political director of the USW International, headquartered in Pittsburgh.

But Rocha, who was indicted last fall for embezzling $6,971 in union funds, also acknowledged responsibility for the other 17 counts of the 18-count indictment.

Under federal law, he faced a maximum 5 years in prison for each count.

Prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney’s office said Rocha misused his union-issued credit card and falsified semi-monthly USW vouchers to pay for golf trips in Florida and other southern states.

U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing noted that Rocha’s fall from grace followed a “steep, sharp and successful climb from the floor of a tire plant in Texas to the top” of the USW.

According to his online biography, Rocha, a native of Tyler, Texas, is a graduate of the Harvard University Trade Union program.

He served as national labor director for Democratic presidential candidates Dick Gephardt in 2004 and John Edwards in 2008.

Rocha could not be reached for comment.