The convictions on two counts of felony theft followed a weeklong trial before an Anoka County jury and a lengthy investigation spurred by the U.S. Department of Labor. The case did not involve Elvig’s work on the City Council, and it is unclear how it will affect his future there.
[...] Elvig was first elected to the Ramsey council in 2002 and is its longest-serving current member.
The Ramsey city charter says council members convicted of felonies must vacate office. However, Elvig’s future with the city may be determined by the sentence he receives from Judge Spencer Sokolowski at a hearing scheduled for June 17.
[Hennepin County Deputy District Attorney Susan] Crumb said she will ask the judge that Elvig pay restitution — about $28,000, which includes money employees paid because of insurance issues.
“If the sentence is more in line with one associated with a gross misdemeanor, we’ve been advised that his conviction could be viewed as a gross misdemeanor and he could remain on the council,” said Ramsey City Administrator Kurt Ulrich.
“I don’t believe anything like this has happened before in Ramsey. This is new territory for us.”
Trial was in Anoka County, but prosecution was by an adjacent county's legal staff:
To avoid a conflict of interest in the case decided Friday, the state requested that Elvig’s case be prosecuted outside of the Anoka County attorney’s office.
It is a routine thing to transfer handling outside of a county where political dimensions exist, and at a guess Anoka County Attorney Palumbo was more than satisfied with the case being handled outside of his office, as one who would value avoiding any second guessing or rumor mongering had his staff handled the case. There is absolutely no bad reflection against Palumbo or his staff by resort to outside prosecution in a case such as this. Again, it is the regular practice to do exactly what was done.