ST. LOUIS COUNTY – TRF News – A McKinley City Councilor has been sentenced to five years of unsupervised probation for damaging a Minnesota Power support wire that knocked out electricity to three Iron Range cities in May.
Joseph Christopher Vaida, 64, pleaded guilty Monday to a single count of damaging an electric line. Under a stay of imposition, his felony conviction will be reduced to a misdemeanor if he remains law-abiding until August 2030.
The May 19 incident disrupted power to McKinley, Gilbert, and Biwabik. According to court records, Vaida had a “long and contentious history” with Minnesota Power employees and had previously engaged in intimidating and disorderly conduct toward the company’s staff.
Days before the outage, Minnesota Power reported that Vaida threatened to cut down a guy wire anchored on his property. The utility explained that an easement for the wire had existed since 1990 and that resolving the dispute would take longer than the seven days Vaida demanded.
A St. Louis County deputy warned Vaida not to damage the line, advising him to resolve the matter in court. However, Vaida reportedly declared, “Monday at noon it’s going down.”
When Vaida followed through, crews quickly restored power to Gilbert and Biwabik but avoided his property until deputies located him. Authorities say they found metal cutters and an ax in his pickup, along with the severed wire wrapped in barbed wire. There was also evidence of digging near the anchor.
Two other felony charges — damaging utility property and first-degree property damage — were dropped as part of the plea deal.
Vaida, first elected to the McKinley City Council in 2018 and reelected in 2022, remains on the council, according to the St. Louis County Auditor’s Office. The city, located about 8 miles east of Virginia, Minnesota, had a population of 103 as of the 2020 Census.
For more information on utility easement laws in Minnesota, visit the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.
I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News.
Joseph Christopher Vaida