Hennepin County attorney Mary Moriarty is sharing new details about the state’s first ever felony wage theft conviction.
Frederick Leon Newell, 59, was convicted Wednesday of one count of wage theft and one count of theft by swindle. This is the first wage theft criminal conviction in Minnesota history.
Newell was found to have underpayed six of his employees at least $37,000 for painting and cleaning labor in 2020.
Moriarty calls Newell's efforts sophisticated and intentional.
"We thought this crime was more serious than the typical crime because of the number of victims, the fact that it had a major economic impact, and the sophistication of it," says Moriarty. "And the judge found that all of those factors were present."
She added that this is just the first of many cases that the Worker Protection Unit expects to uncover and prosecute.
"It is an important step forward in our efforts to protect workers,” Moriarty said. “This type of behavior will not be tolerated. Mr. Newell was entrusted with public funds to pay his staff for their labor on a public works project. Instead, he siphoned their money for himself."
Newell's sentencing is scheduled for June 6th.