The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) says LaVon “Vonnie” Phillips is no longer employed by the agency, more than two months after he made headlines for sending a profanity-laced email to an Alpha News reporter from his official state account.
“Vonnie Phillips is not an employee of the MPCA,” a spokesperson for the agency confirmed this week.
The update follows Alpha News’ July report on Phillips, who was then listed as a “Human Resources Director 1” for the MPCA and paid about $115,000 per year, according to state records.
Incredibly, Phillips was also listed as the contact for the agency’s Affirmative Action Plan and was required to comply with workplace “anti-discrimination and harassment policies.”
Phillips came to the attention of Alpha News because of a Facebook account under his name that contained repeated racist comments targeting white people.
Phillips responded to inquiry with expletive-filled email
When the outlet contacted Phillips for comment, he confirmed the account was his — and responded with an expletive-filled message directed at reporter Jenna Gloeb.
“F-ck you, Jenna. Notice I did not use my work email … f-cking rotten b-tch,” Phillips wrote — except he did, in fact, send the message from his official MPCA address.
He later attempted, unsuccessfully, to recall the email several times and followed up with a similar message from a personal account telling Gloeb to “kiss my ass.”
The MPCA placed Phillips on leave amid an internal investigation shortly after the incident but declined at the time to say whether the leave was paid or unpaid.
Outrage grew as story spread online
The story quickly went viral, drawing widespread outrage online and becoming a topic of discussion across X.
The popular “Garage Logic” podcast devoted an episode to the incident, criticizing Phillips’ conduct and the agency’s handling of the situation.
Meet Minnesota Govt Employee Vonnie Phillips. He’s now ON LEAVE after sending an unhinged email to an @AlphaNewsMN reporter who asked about his disgusting racist rants calling White people “morally bankrupt, liars, and f***ing crazy” pic.twitter.com/1IPRZvlM7P
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 11, 2025
The incident was one of several controversies facing state agencies over the summer.
Alpha News reporter Jenna Gloeb also exposed how Wilson Tindi — a convicted sex offender and former ICE detainee — was employed as a director at the Minnesota Department of Education.
As Alpha News reported, Tindi was taken into federal custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month during a ride-along with reporter Liz Collin.
