Former Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jonathan Weinhagen admitted in federal court Monday to defrauding the organization of more than $213,000 through a multi-year scheme that included concocting a phony consulting company, writing a sham obituary and stealing chamber donations for a Crime Stoppers reward fund.

Weinhagen, who had an earlier stint with the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to one count of mail fraud in connection with receiving three $10,000 donations to Crime Stoppers following the unsolved shootings of three children in Minneapolis in 2021.

Jonathan Weinhagen (Courtesy photo)

Weinhangen, a 42-year-old married father of four from Shoreview, was indicted in late October for running the fraud scheme between December 2019 and June 2024 — when he abruptly left the Minneapolis chamber — by setting up bogus contracts with the made-up company. He deposited money from the contracts into a bank account he opened under the company’s name and used it for his personal expenses.

Four other charges will be dismissed at sentencing as part of a plea agreement: two counts of wire fraud and one count each of attempted bank fraud and providing a false statement on a loan application.

Weinhagen will remain free ahead of his sentencing on an unsecured bond he posted Oct. 23. He faces between 27 and 33 months in prison at sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled.

‘James Sullivan’

Weinhagen admitted Monday during questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Murphy that he invented a company called Synergy Partners along with a fictional owner, James Sullivan, which he used to enter into three fraudulent contracts with the chamber totaling $117,500.

He admitted to opening a line of credit in the chamber’s name, borrowing more than $125,000 and transferring it to the phony company.

“To cover up his embezzlement,” the indictment read, “Weinhagen later diverted donations from Chamber of Commerce business members to repay the money he fraudulently obtained through the (chamber) line of credit.” Weinhagen admitted as much under questioning by Murphy.

The chamber discovered the credit line and staff requested information about the payments, according to the indictment. Weinhagen then sent fake emails to make it appear the fictional company had gone out of business and published an obituary on Legacy.com in April 2024, claiming the 62-year-old owner from St. Paul had died of pancreatic cancer.

“James Sullivan” was a “family man who balanced a successful consulting career,” the now-deleted obituary read. “Jim was charismatic, hardworking, and always put others first.”

Weinhagen admitted in court to spending $15,701 on a chamber credit card for a first-class airfare and a two-bedroom oceanfront room in Honolulu for him and family, and creating fake documents to make it appear as though the trip was all for legitimate chamber business.

Weinhagen admitted he asked Crime Stoppers to return the $30,000 in May 2022 and asked that the refund be sent to his home, saying it was the chamber’s new address.

“And upon receiving that check, you stole the money for your own personal expenses. Is that correct?” Murphy asked Weinhagen. “Yes,” he said.

Finally, Weinhagen admitted that he tried to defraud SoFi Bank of $54,000 through a bank loan after leaving the chamber. He claimed he worked for a Minnesota-based restaurant holding company and providing a phony bank stub showing a $425,000 annual salary. The bank denied the loan.

He was a school board member

In a span of about seven years, Weinhagen went from working at his family’s now-shuttered fourth generation business on St. Paul’s West Side, Weinhagen Tire Co., to hobnobbing with business leaders and politicians on both sides of the river.

Weinhagen, who holds degrees from Bethel University and the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, joined the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce in 2010. He spent the next six and a half years at the chamber, including the last two as vice president, then left to become president and CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce.

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Weinhagen resigned from the Minneapolis chamber following an internal investigation that projected a $500,000 deficit in 2024. He received nearly $278,000 in salary and other compensation in 2023, according to chamber tax records.

Weinhagen was also a member of the Mounds View school board for over 11 years. He resigned on Oct. 24, two days after the federal indictment was unsealed.

The school district found no evidence of impropriety in its routine audits, spokesman Colin Sokolowski said Monday. But the school board has asked the district’s auditing firm “to review our finances for the duration of Weinhagen’s board service,” Sokolowski said, adding the review is ongoing.

More than 1,300 tickets were issued and 351 cars were towed from designated “night plow” routes on the first night of St. Paul’s 96-hour snow emergency, which began at 9 p.m. Sunday.

That’s an average to slightly above-average amount of ticketing and towing for a St. Paul snow emergency, but the first winter storm of the season is always a learning experience — or perhaps a refresher course — for many residents. On top of that, some of the city’s alert systems kicked in a few hours later than usual.

St. Paul Public Works informs residents that a snow emergency is in effect through a variety of platforms, from social media blasts on sites such as X, previously known as Twitter, to emails and text alerts in multiple languages, an online parking map, a recorded line, local news media and, new in recent months, outgoing voice messages. Not all of those systems rolled out without a kink on Sunday.

A problem with a third-party vendor slowed text alerts for hours, sending out 66,000 text messages on a staggered basis.

“Some went out right away, some trickled out,” said Lisa Hiebert, a spokesperson for St. Paul Public Works.

The snow emergency was declared at about 12:30 p.m. and some 64,000 emails launched soon after, but by 2 p.m. only about half of the text alerts had been distributed. Still, “all the text messages went out by 6 p.m.,” Hiebert said, giving recipients several hours to move their cars.

Another issue — possibly but not necessarily tied to the cyber-security incident that crippled city systems for weeks this summer — left Public Works scrambling to change the message on a recorded line — 651-266-PLOW — that residents can call for updated snow emergency information. That message was not changed until 6 p.m., despite the best efforts of communications staff, Hiebert said.

“We had a little glitch with the voicemail message and being able to access that,” she said.

New and existing platforms

The city added a new phone service about a year ago that sends recorded snow emergency messages to 150,000 phone numbers culled from public records. The Everbridge Resident Connect service sends the voice recordings to landlines and mobile numbers using “open sources” registered in St. Paul, Hiebert said. Everbridge is distinct from the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) used by FEMA.

“It’s just one of many, many ways people can get the status update,” Hiebert said. “Signing up for email and text alerts is the best, but residents can also check out the snow emergency parking map, check our socials.” More information is online at StPaul.gov/snow.

Snow emergencies last 96 hours. After clearing major arterial streets and other designated night plow routes on Sunday night, city snow plows concentrated on residential streets during daytime hours on Monday. Given the amount of ice build-up, Hiebert said the city will salt residential streets — which is not usually the case — and return to trouble spots through Thursday evening, including areas that were inaccessible because of cars that had not been moved.

In the latter stages of a snow emergency, parking is allowed only in areas that have been plowed to the curb. Vehicles parked in unplowed areas may be subject to ticketing and towing. “It’s pretty obvious with windrows when cars haven’t moved,” Hiebert said.

Residents concerned about an abandoned vehicle blocking snowplow access can call Ramsey County’s non-emergency dispatch number — 651-291-1111 — or fill out an online form at StPaul.gov/SnowTicketing.

Minneapolis also declared a snow emergency on Sunday, after a winter storm that began Friday finished dropping about 5 inches of snow throughout the Twin Cities.

Hiebert’s advice to new residents?

“If you’re going out of town and you park on the street, make sure you always leave your keys with someone trusted, because we do ticket and tow,” she said.

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St. Paul Public Schools is planning on reducing its annual levy by 2% this year as part of its 2026 budget.

To get details on the district’s budget for the coming year residents can attend the SPPS truth in taxation hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the district administration building at 360 Colborne St. Tom Sager, the district’s executive chief of financial services, will present details on the levy for taxes payable in 2026.

Prior to voter approval of a special levy increase in the Nov. 4 elections, the school board in September set the annual property tax levy at 2% less than the one a year ago. District officials have attributed the reduction largely to changes in how the state factors costs for retiree health insurance, pensions, severance and unemployment payments, which reduced overall expenses for SPPS.

The levy amount for the 2026-2027 school year is $216.48 million, or about 2% less than the previous year. It is expected to be certified by the board Dec. 16.

In the past five levy cycles, the district’s total levy has increased approximately 3.5 percent per year on average, according to district officials.

Levy referendum

In November voters approved a special school levy referendum to increase property taxes in order to provide additional funding for the district for the next ten years.

The referendum received approval from 65% of voters, increasing the district’s general revenue by $1,073 per pupil for 10 years, beginning with taxes payable in 2026. The 10-year tax is subject to increase with inflation.

Voters approved similar referendums in 2018, 2012 and 2006. The 2018 levy referendum gave the district $1,180 per student, or $18.6 million per year plus inflation, in new revenue.

District funding

General fund revenue makes up around 76% of the school district’s budget.

Here’s a listing of previous general fund totals for the district by year:

• 2015-2016: $562.2 million.

• 2016-2017: $561.1 million.

• 2017-2018: $561.3 million.

• 2018-2019: $590.7 million.

• 2019-2020: $624.3 million.

• 2020-2021: $632.2 million.

• 2021-2022: $703.7 million.

• 2022-2023: $719.27 million.

• 2023-2024: $801.1 million.

• 2024-2025: $749 million.

• 2025-2026: $767 million.

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Property taxes make up 21.56% of total district revenue and total property taxes per student in the district is $5,914. Total property taxes per student in Minneapolis Public Schools is $7,804, according to SPPS.

Four men were shot and wounded in St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff area Monday afternoon.

Police responded to the area of Fourth and Earl streets shortly after 4:30 p.m. due to multiple reports of shots fired. Officers found two men at the intersection and another two behind a residence in the 1000 block of East Fourth Street.

The four men sustained non-life threatening injuries and were taken to the hospital by St. Paul Fire Department medics, said Nikki Muehlhausen, a police spokesperson.

“Investigators are working to determine who the shooter or shooters were, but we do not believe there is any threat to public safety,” she said.

Officers, K-9s and drone teams were searching the area for any additional victims and to collect evidence as of early Monday evening.

The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

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