Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to refile case against Harding Smith

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office is refiling its case against Harding Smith due to witness availability for the upcoming scheduled trial.

Mr. Smith was originally charged with felony wage theft and felony theft-by-swindle. As the statute of limitations on felony wage theft has expired, the case is being refiled to charge only felony theft-by-swindle.

“Mr. Smith intentionally misrepresented his use of Hennepin County taxpayer funds by falsely claiming he paid his employees $35 per hour, as was required by his contract with Hennepin County. He paid his employees substantially less and instead used those funds for unauthorized purposes,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. “These allegations are serious and are not being dropped. The procedural action taken today does not diminish the strength of our case and we are fully prepared to resume our prosecution.”

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