A federal investigation of spending at Community Action of Minneapolis has produced a two-year prison sentence for Jordan Davis, a former Minneapolis police officer and son of Bill Davis, the nonprofit's CEO.
Jordan Davis, 36, was convicted by a jury last summer for plotting with his father to be paid more than $140,000 for a no-show job at an ice cream shop.
The sentence handed down by Judge Patrick Schiltz includes two years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term and restitution.
Bill Davis, who was also convicted in the scheme, used CAM funds to pay his son for a job at a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop operated by CAM near the University of Minnesota. Ben & Jerry's waived its standard franchise fees so CAM could operate the store to provide job and entrepreneurial training to underprivileged youth.
Between 2002 and October 2006, Jordan Davis was manager of the Ben & Jerry's. In October 2006, he became a full-time Minneapolis police officer and left his post with Ben & Jerry's, but the elder Davis directed CAM's staff to continue issuing his son a full paycheck. From November 2006 until January 2011, Jordan Davis continued being paid $1,320 biweekly from the job he left.
Jordan Davis left the Minneapolis force last July.
In addition to receiving paychecks for the no-show job, Jordan Davis also used a CAM-owned vehicle, made personal purchases using a Ben & Jerry's debit card and received a $6,000 "bonus" check.
During this same period, the Ben & Jerry's store was consistently losing money, forcing CAM to transfer roughly $100,000 in federal grant funding each year to keep the doors open. In April 2011, CAM closed the Ben & Jerry's PartnerShop because it could no longer afford rent for the store, and CAM terminated its youth job skills training program.
