An elected city official in northern Minnesota is accused of groping a woman he approached at a bar last month.
Chisholm City Council member Kevin R. Scaia, 50, has been summoned to appear in court Nov. 30 after a complaint filed Thursday.
Surveillance footage shows the alleged groping incident about 1 a.m. Sept. 6 at the T&T Dome Bar in Chisholm. Scaia is expected to be charged with fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a gross misdemeanor.
Court documents state:
Scaia left approached two women, who were sitting next to each other at the bar. He stood directly behind the victim and reached both hands under her arms and around her, squeezing her breasts. The woman used her hands to get Scaia’s hands off her, but Scaia remained behind the women and put both of his arms around the two.
The woman told Scaia to “knock it off” and to leave them alone. He then prodded her by stating “oh, come on” and using her name.
In an interview with law enforcement, Scaia initially denied any sexual contact and then said he “may have hugged the victim face to face.”
Then officers told Scaia about the video surveillance taken from inside the bar, at which point he stated he “didn’t mean anything by it” and added that “it was just something I did.”
Scaia then described himself as “a political target” and that he “believes somebody within the city is behind the allegation.”
Elected into office in November 2014, Scaia is a first-term council member and works as an advertising executive for Hometown Focus, a newspaper based in Virginia, Minn. Messages left Monday evening for Scaia were not returned.
According to the Hometown Focus website, Scaia joined the newspaper “with a very diverse background that includes several years as a Transportation Security Inspector at Chicago O’Hare Airport, a FEMA special assistant during Hurricane Katrina, a gig as president of a security and investigative agency, a barbeque restaurant manager, and work as a funeral director/embalmer.”
The website also describes him as a certified Minnesota State High School League official for basketball, football, baseball and softball, and a member of Range Coaches and Officials Association.
A search of Scaia’s criminal history in Minnesota reveals a careless driving conviction, a plea in which a DWI charge was dismissed, in May 2014.
If convicted, Scaia faces up to one year in jail and a $3,000 fine.