Former HRA director faces embezzlement allegations

COOK- Former Cook Housing and Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Reed Erickson, 68, of Side Lake, will be in St. Louis County District Court in Virginia next week for a hearing to determine if a case charging him with embezzling thousands of dollars from the agency will move forward to trial.
A complaint filed with the court in February alleges that Erickson paid himself for 515 hours of unused vacation and sick time to which he was not entitled on his final paycheck when he resigned in December 2022, totaling $18,982.90.
According to the complaint, current CHRA Executive Director Mike Jugovich hired Edina accountants Cavanaugh and Company to audit the payments made to Erickson after finding discrepancies in the pay records. The audit, completed in October 2023, found that Erickson had only 99 hours of unused vacation time and had no accrued sick leave available, having taken 119 more hours of sick leave than what he had actually earned.
Erickson was given an opportunity by Jugovich to respond to the audit report, which he did in writing on Nov. 9, 2023. According to the complaint, Erickson responded that he had been paid for 456 hours of accrued vacation time – 300 hours carried over from 2021 and 156 hours from 2022 – for a payout of $16,808.16. Erickson denied being paid any sick time on his last check.
However, by admitting to being paid for 456 hours of vacation time, Erickson established that he was in violation of the CHRA policy limiting payouts to only 240 hours of accrued time.
“Therefore, by his own admission, at a minimum Erickson paid himself for 216 hours of vacation time to which he was not entitled, for a total of $7,856.08,” the complaint states.
Past history
The allegations against Erickson aren’t the first time he’s been accused of using public funds for personal financial gain.
In 2012, Erickson was dismissed from his position as the director of the Minnesota Small Cities Development Program in the Department of Employment and Economic Development after an investigation into expense-report discrepancies. When appealing the denial of unemployment benefits, an unemployment law judge concluded that Erickson made “inappropriate expenditures and requests for reimbursement.” An investigative report compiled by an independent law firm identified 11 events in which Erickson was said to have:
Falsified expense reports to show that he was working when in fact he was not.
Falsified reports and claimed expenses that were not legitimately due him.
Rented cars for state business and used them for personal use.
Caused the state to pay green fees at golf courses while he was attending conferences on state business.
Obtained reimbursement for per diem meal expenses that were included in lodging packages purchased at state expense.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the unemployment law judge’s finding and stated in its opinion that “Erickson’s conduct was egregious; conduct far less egregious than Erickson’s has been held sufficient to constitute misconduct for unemployment eligibility purposes.”
Hearing
Erickson’s hearing on Monday, Aug. 12 will be conducted remotely, and is what’s termed an omnibus hearing, held to review the case for probable cause for the charge to be brought and determine if the case should move forward to trial. Both sides have indicated in prehearing communications with the court that they will not be calling witnesses to testify at the hearing, and the most recent letter from Erickson’s attorney indicated he would waive his right to the hearing, clearing the way for the case to move forward.
If convicted on the felony embezzlement charge, Erickson could face maximum penalties of ten years in prison and a $20,000 fine.