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Another ''violence interrupter'' scam revealed. Felony charges filed against Bishop Harding Smith for swindle and wage theft.
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The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) has charged the operator of a local non-profit with felonies related to wage theft in connection to his violence prevention contract with the county. Bishop Harding Smith, who is the president and founder of non-profit Minnesota Acts Now (MAN), was charged by summons Thursday and is scheduled to appear in court on charges of theft by swindle and wage theft on June 16, 2025. The criminal complaint details that Smith, 56, failed to pay his employees the required wage under the terms of his contract with Hennepin County. Smith stated in a proposal to the county that his workers would be paid $35 per hour, and later submitted a proposal stating that he and his workers should be paid $40 per hour by the county. A blurb from the county attorney’s office stated that the contract between Hennepin County and Minnesota Acts Now was effective August — December 2021 to provide violence intervention services. HCAO also alleges Smith made false claims to Hennepin County that he was paying employees the wage required by the contract. Based on a review of payroll records and timesheets, Sherlocks calculated that Minnesota Acts Now reported total payroll expenses of $495,547.90 to Hennepin County but actually incurred total payroll expenses of only $346,209.31; a difference of nearly $150,000. Documents showed that Harding was not paying his workers the initially proposed $35 per hour, except for his spouse, and that $100,000 was used by MAN to purchase a building in Brooklyn Park. "Bishop Harding Smith failed to pay his employees what he agreed to as part of the contract with Hennepin County and then lied about it when seeking payroll expense reimbursements," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. "As I said when our office secured the state’s first wage theft conviction, this behavior will not be tolerated." Smith, who lives in Edina, has been the subject of controversy in the past when he stood by the father of 10-year-old Barway Collins who had gone missing under suspicious circumstances in Crystal, Minn., in 2015. Barway’s father, Pierre Collins, later confessed to killing Barway and stashing his duct taped body in the Mississippi river. Posted by: Fred 2025-05-31 |
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