Lakeville man sentenced in first wage theft criminal conviction in state

A Lakeville man was sentenced Friday in connection with the first wage theft criminal conviction in state history Frederick Leon Newell was sentenced Friday on one count of wage theft and one count of theft by swindle following the enactment of the law Following state sentencing guidelines Newell was given stays of imposition of sentence on both counts and a probationary period of three years In addition he will be required to complete hours of neighborhood institution work He was also ordered to pay more than in restitution and may not bid on or participate in new community contracts This wage-theft conviction is the first of its kind in Minnesota It is an significant step forward in our efforts to protect workers Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty noted This type of behavior will not be tolerated Mr Newell was entrusted with constituents funds to pay his staff for their labor on a residents works project Instead he siphoned their money for himself According to the criminal complaint Newell committed wage theft by failing to pay employees at his company at the rate of pay required by law Newell owned Integrated Painting Solutions in Apple Valley according to the criminal complaint Newell s company secured a bid to do work on the Redwell apartment complex at N Third St in Minneapolis He hired seven people to paint and do cleaning All that work was subject to wage requirements under city ordinance and state and federal law His trial ran from Jan to Jan and the court delivered the verdict on April In total five employees of Mr Newell s company were underpaid by a total of at least between June and Dec for painting and cleaning labor On the theft by swindle charge Mr Newell continued to accept payments from a general contractor over the syllabus of a project despite knowing that his company was in financial distress was not paying prevailing wage and was concealing hours worked by employees Related Articles St Paul fire inspector charged in assault of -year-old on way to school Police Gunshots followed Burnsville High School graduation ceremony but no injuries Brooklyn Center attorney suspended by Minnesota Supreme Court Apple Valley woman latest to be charged in Feeding Our Future fraud U S Customs and Territory line Protection officer charged with possessing child porn