St. Paul business executive cops plea for felony theft

Former St. Jude Medical executive Bryan C. Szweda will pay $117,090 in restitution to the St. Paul medical devices company following a plea deal in which he admitted to stealing $35,000. Additionally, he will serve a 21-month probation sentence and perform 500 hours of community service helping low-income Minnesotans.

Szweda pled guilty to one count of felony theft in exchange for prosecutors dropping five other charges.

Szweda presented invoices from a fictitious company, PIT Productions, and padded his expense account. In one case, he charged the company $2,000 to rent a meeting room; however, investigators found emails showing that he actually booked a suite at the Target Center for a country music concert. Other claimed expenses netted him a go-kart party for his son’s 16th birthday and Minnesota Timberwolves basketball tickets.