Minneapolis Review

A policy fellow for Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has been charged with selling drugs and illegally possessing a firearm.

Twenty-eight-year-old Keegan Rolenc was pulled over in February after he ran a stop sign. The police then searched his car after smelling marijuana where they found 40.6 grams of cocaine, $2,200 in cash and a loaded 9-millimeter handgun in a backpack, according to the charges filed last month in Hennepin County.

Additionally, the police found a digital scale and a notebook with a list of handwritten names under the title, “owe me,” according to the reported charges.

Rolenc has been working for Frey since January and has helped influence criminal justice reform in recent years through his own story of reform. He is currently suspended pending the outcome of the case.

Mayor Frey commented on the news in a recent interview.

“I was gutted — totally gutted,” Frey told the Star Tribune. “If the allegations are true, the disappointment is cavernous.”

Rolenc, facing three felony charges and a violation of probation, has maintained his innocence throughout the allegations.

“I’ll be waiting for my due process and my day in court for the facts to come out,” Rolenc said, according to the Star Tribune.

Frey met Rolenc following his 2016 release from prison at city-sponsored gang intervention program meeting, according to the Star Tribune. Frey said he was struck by Rolenc’s charisma paired with his determination to turn his life around after a troubled upbringing and a stint in jail.

“He talked about how the presence of his son changed his life and he was going to do everything he could,” Frey said.

The mayor was so impressed that the two immediately struck up a friendship. 

“I started working with him and mentoring him,” Frey said.

Frey said he had yet to speak to Rolenc since the arrest at the time of his initial public comment.