Star Tribune
7-year term for Eden Prairie man who stole $1.6M in COVID-19 funds, fled to Colombia
A prison term exceeding seven years has been given to an Eden Prairie man who fraudulently received more than $1.6 million in COVID-19 relief funds, stole another person’s identity and fled to his wife’s native country of Colombia.
Harold Bennie Kaeding, 75, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in St. Paul last week after jurors found him guilty in August of three counts each of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and one count of money laundering.
Along with a prison sentence of 7¼ years, Judge Eric Tostrud ordered Kaeding to make restitution of the nearly $660,000 in connection with his scheme and serve three years of court supervision upon his release from prison.
Ahead of sentencing, Kaeding’s defense attorneys urged the judge to impose no more incarceration for their client since his arrest. They argued in writing that his advanced age and a host of health problems “make any additional prison time unduly difficult and perilous.”
In early 2021, Kaeding fled alone to Colombia, his wife’s native country, in an apparent attempt to evade prosecution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Law enforcement eventually found him there in November 2021 and had him deported back to the United States.
Between March and May 2020, Kaeding applied for nearly $2.2 million in loans through the Paycheck Protection and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs. He used the names of his own close family members to submit the loan applications in the names of six purported corporate entities.
But these entities filed no tax returns and did not report the payment of wages to a single employee for calendar years 2019 and 2020. Kaeding instead fabricated tax documents, manufactured bank statements and submitted other records to ensure the applications appeared legitimate.
Election officials in all 87 counties in Minnesota have begun the process of checking results for accuracy. Required by law, officials will manually count ballots of randomly selected precincts and compare results with those tabulated by electronic voting machines.
In Hennepin County, that included checking results in 12 precincts chosen in a lottery, and verifying the results of three races in each. In total, 30 election judges with observers and the public watching from across the table will comb through 70,314 ballots to ensure vote totals match up, said Ginny Gelms, head of Hennepin County Elections.
The process started Monday morning and may take two days, Gelms said.
“Today is a reminder that the 2024 election process is not over yet,” Simon said. “The mandatory reviews are a critical safeguard to ensure accuracy.”
Discrepancies in vote totals are rare, officials said. In that case, additional precincts in the count would be audited, Gelms said.
Minneapolis’ THC-focused restaurant Hi Flora! has announced it will close in early December, citing financial struggles following a $7,500 fine from the state’s Office of Cannabis Management over a variety of alleged violations.
Chef and owner Heather Klein, who opened the restaurant in July 2023, posted on Sunday that the business at 2558 Lyndale Avenue South will close on Dec. 5.
“This reality has been hard to accept, especially since we’ve built a one of a kind safe space that’s all about plants, wellness, healing and connection without alcohol,” Klein said in her announcement on Instagram.
Hi Flora! was hyped when it opened a little over a year ago for pairing vegan food with THC “tinctures” — liquid solutions that customers could either take home or add to their food or drinks. The restaurant also sold THC beverages. Klein did not sell alcohol at the restaurant, saying she wanted it to be an alternative for people who don’t drink alcohol.
But financial hardships set in following an incident in August, she said, when a woman ingested too much THC and her party called an ambulance to the restaurant. Charlene Briner, the interim director of the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), said it was a “serious adverse health event.” Klein described it differently, calling the episode “a little anxiety” that subsided within 20 minutes.
The ambulance crew reported the incident to the state, which led to an investigation and seizure of some of Hi Flora!’s products.
“Our enforcement team responded and conducted an inspection that identified numerous non-compliant products and practices,” Briner said. She added that “this was not the first instance of complaints about this business leading to inspectors finding violations.”
A man whose protest atop a South St. Paul billboard has stretched for weeks has been charged with using a slingshot to shoot metal objects at police and workers below.
Matthew Jon Becker, 46, of West St. Paul, was charged in Dakota County District Court last week with obstructing the legal process and first-degree property damage, both felonies, and misdemeanor assault for allegedly taking aim from the billboard near Interstate 494 and Concord Street.
Becker has been on the billboard since Oct. 4 in connection with his allegations that Dakota County has protected a Burnsville man who court records show was convicted in Scott County of criminal sexual conduct.
As recently as Sunday afternoon, Becker posted the latest of many YouTube videos from his perch. He said that despite feeling a bit under the weather, he has no intention to come down.
On Oct. 25, police were sent to the billboard regarding a disturbance. Workers were there attempting to erect a fence around the base of the billboard when they were struck by objects Becker fired out of a slingshot.
One object struck a police squad vehicle while an officer was standing close by. The officer recovered an object that resembled a small metal ball bearing.
One worker was struck in the ankle and left with a red mark.
