VIRGINIA — Jason Metsa, a former state representative on the Iron Range, was fined $900 and given a year of unsupervised probation after pleading guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of providing alcohol to an 18-year-old woman.

Metsa, 44, was arrested in July for suspected criminal sexual conduct but ultimately charged with the alcohol-related offense in September.

Prosecutors, on Oct. 3, accepted Metsa’s guilty plea and Sixth District Judge Robert C. Friday approved the deal last week. The plea featured a stay of adjudication, meaning if the former lawmaker completes probation requirements of remaining law abiding and no similar offenses, the charge will be dismissed.

The gross misdemeanor offense carried less than a year in jail if convicted, and up to a $3,000 fine.

Metsa was the Minnesota House 6B Representative from 2013 to 2018, when he left state politics for an unsuccessful run at Congress.

He also served as the deputy commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation until last year, and temporarily moved to the Minnesota Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic as a program manager for testing and vaccines.