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.

Weinhangen, a 42-year-old married father of four from Shoreview, was indicted in late October for running the fraud scheme between December 2019 an

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