A North Dakota mayor resigned this week after unintentionally sending a sexually specific video of himself to a metropolis legal professional.
Minot Mayor Tom Ross resigned on Tuesday, the identical day an investigation report revealed that he’d despatched a video of himself masturbating to Metropolis Lawyer Stefanie Stalheim in January, minutes after the 2 had a cellphone dialog a couple of police officer’s suicide.
In accordance with the report launched by town, Ross requested Stalheim to delete the video earlier than watching it and to maintain the incident between them. He later advised an interviewer he had meant to make “a sexy video for his girlfriend” and didn’t imply to ship it to Stalheim.
She filed a proper grievance two weeks later.
The report decided that, whether or not unintended or not, Ross’s conduct “directly caused Stalheim’s inability to work in an environment free from unreasonable sexual harassment and created an offensive work environment.”
It additionally decided Ross had improperly used his private cellphone for metropolis enterprise.
Ross was elected mayor in 2022 after serving two years on the Minot Metropolis Council.
“I do take responsibility for this mistake,” Ross stated in a press release to Bismark outlet KFYR. “I tried to immediately correct it and was unable. I will always have the utmost respect for Stefanie Stalheim, she is a true professional. The decision I made [to resign] falls in line with all my work on behalf of the City of Minot. I put my heart and soul into this community. My stepping down is one more decision that is best for all of Minot.”
Ross’ resignation comes almost per week after ex-North Dakota State Senator Ray Holmberg was sentenced to 10 years in jail for flying to Europe a number of occasions to have intercourse with underage boys.
