On Monday, the former charter school was demolished to make way for new apartments.
An entire work crew tore down the building.
But it took just one man to take down Heart of the Earth.
“A good school, a cultural institution and Joel Pourier killed it,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.
On Monday, a Hennepin County judge sent Joel Pourier to prison for ten years. Pourier was once the school’s executive director. Last month, he pleaded guilty to stealing more than a million dollars from school coffers over five years, a crime that forced the school to shut down. In addition to prison time, Pourier was also ordered to pay a million dollars in restitution.
Prosecutors say as students waited for supplies, Pourier wrote checks to himself, spending the school’s money on cars, houses and strip clubs.
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