Jordan Davis conspiracy trial begins; prosecutors say he stole from nonprofit

Updated: 6:10 p.m. | Posted: 4:17 p.m.

The second man named in an alleged conspiracy to misuse taxpayer money through Community Action Minneapolis went on trial Wednesday in federal court.

The indictment for Jordan Davis, a Minneapolis police officer and son of Community Action's former CEO Bill Davis, says from 2002 until 2006, he managed a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop funded by the nonprofit run by his dad.

Prosecutors say Jordan Davis later left the position to join the Minneapolis force, but still illegally received payments totaling $140,000 over a four-year period.

Last week, Bill Davis pleaded guilty to 16 charges, including misuse of taxpayer funds and conspiracy to commit fraud.

In opening statements, federal prosecutors said the case is about a police officer who stole more than $140,000 from an agency that helps people get out of poverty.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Svendsen said Jordan Davis should have known it wasn't right to receive paychecks for work he didn't do. Prosecutors say he conspired with his father Bill Davis, the nonprofit's CEO, to use money meant for the poor for his own personal gain.

Svendsen said Davis also used a company debit card to pay his phone bill and for gas. And she said he used a company car for his personal use until he crashed it in 2010.

Former Ben & Jerry's employee Jackie Derickson testified that during the three and half years she worked at the store — between 2003 and 2007 — she rarely saw Jordan Davis. Derickson worked her way up from scooping ice cream to assistant manager. "He [Jordan] always had a manager title, but I was doing everything at the store," said Derickson.

She said that was especially true in 2006 and 2007. That's around the time Davis began working for the Minneapolis Police Department.

Defense attorney Fred Bruno told the jury of eight women and six men that the government's allegations are "categorically untrue." Bruno said he will present evidence showing that Davis earned his keep even after he stopped working day to day at the ice cream store run by Community Action in 2006 when he started working full-time for Minneapolis police.

The judge dismissed eight potential jurors because they told him they'd already heard about the case in the media. And because Davis is a police officer, a few potential jurors were dismissed when they told the judge they didn't think they could be fair.

One woman said she had a bias in favor of police, and said she thought police officers are too often unfairly sued for trying to do their jobs. Another woman was dismissed because she had negative interactions with police and said she couldn't be fair to Davis.