MnDOT contractor who shorted workers $242K is convicted of theft by swindle

$242,000 case involved co-owner of firm hired for MnDOT project.

By Paul Walsh Star Tribune
MARCH 8, 2016 – 8:09PM

A co-owner of a Twin Cities electrical contracting company has been convicted of cheating nearly two dozen employees out of a total of $242,000 in wages by paying them far less than the law required for their work on a state highway project in the north metro and elsewhere.

Laura Plzak, 54, of Loretto, was convicted in Hennepin County District Court of 16 felony counts of theft by swindle.

County Attorney Mike Freeman praised the bench verdict issued by Judge Tamara Garcia, calling it “a good decision, based on the enormous amount of evidence gathered by the FBI and the Minnesota Department of Transportation.”

Freeman said Monday that Plzak was “driven by greed, pure and simple, and it was the hardworking electricians who suffered.”

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