Former head of Minneapolis charter school charged with embezzling

From The St. Paul Pioneer Press: The former executive director of a defunct Minneapolis charter school has been charged with embezzling more than $1.38 million in public money over five years. Joel Pourier, 39, is charged with eight counts of felony theft by swindle from Heart of the Earth school, which closed last summer as a result of Pourier's alleged embezzlement and mismanagement. Pourier's lifestyle included a half-million-dollar home, a heated swimming pool, a Cadillac Escalade and thousands of dollars in charges at Minneapolis nightclubs, police say. According to the complaint, Pourier was hired in 2002 as the school's financial director and became executive director the following year.