Former Crosby Mayor Acquitted Of All Four Felony Charges

Former Crosby Mayor Jim Hunter has been acquitted of four felony charges that were brought onto him two years ago.

Hunter was accused of a theft by swindle when selling his business, a second-degree assault, possession of a stolen firearm, and gambling fraud. The Crosby Police took the lead on the investigation, which is unusual when a public figure in the same city is the subject of the crimes.

“I think the first red flag on this case was the local police are investigating and arresting a sitting mayor,” Ed Shaw, Hunter’s attorney, said. “Those kind of investigations are referred out, you hear about in the media; the Minneapolis council member is being investigated, it’s not going to be the Minneapolis police doing it, it’s going to be the St. Paul police or some jurisdiction from out of the area.”

The theft by swindle and second-degree assault charges were quickly dismissed last year. The former Crosby mayor is a gun collector, and one of the firearms he owned was reportedly stolen in the ’90s, but Hunter was completely unaware it was stolen when he purchased it, and the charge was dropped. The gambling fraud charge was centered around pull tabs, and the jury also found him not guilty of that charge.

“They wanted to get rid of Mr. Hunter; to me it’s crystal clear, I think to anyone that looks at it it’s crystal clear,” Shaw said. “This is tens of thousands, maybe more than that, of taxpayer funds have been put into this investigation, this prosecution – it’s an embarrassment, I’m ashamed of it as a citizen that this has happened.”

Hunter is not completely free of all charges yet, as the former mayor still faces one misdemeanor charge and is scheduled to be in court in the next couple of months.