Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis police chief says carjacking crackdown is working as auto theft numbers drop
MINNEAPOLIS — Despite recent incidents, carjackings and auto thefts are actually down across Minneapolis.
According to the city’s crime dashboard, so far in 2024 there have been 76 carjackings, down nearly 21% from last year (95) and 41% compared to the three year average (135).
“I feel very confident that the strategies that we have in place are working because we have seen statistically significant declines since we enacted them,” said Chief Brian O’Hara on Friday afternoon. O’Hara wasn’t ready to declare victory over crimes involving cars however.
Earlier this year, robbery sprees sent that crime data skyrocketing.
“Early this year, the amount of robberies which also includes carjackings were up significantly in the city. They were up about 50% year to date when we started having a robbery spree problem,” O’Hara said. “Last week, we had three teenagers shot in one week, one of them was murdered. Two of the three were shot while they were inside of a stolen car. So it’s a very clear connection between, you know, auto theft and joyriding and then these robberies and carjackings.”
The night before O’Hara spoke to WCCO, three teens were arrested for carjacking a woman.
“I think there’s 20 different reports in all for two of them. You know, everything from auto theft to joyriding in a stolen car and carjacking,” O’Hara said. “It’s a problem we’ve seen over the last couple of years.”
O’Hara credits multiple initaitves for the decline in numbers of those years.
“We initiated a robbery response protocol where we saturate areas as soon as we can once we noticed these problems . . . and then even when we do have robbery sprees, there’s fewer robberies and carjackings reported,” O’Hara said. “We also now have juvenile investigators on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week . . . because there’s certain procedures and evidence collection issues that are different for juveniles. We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can at the time of the incident — whether it’s three o’clock in the morning, or three o’clock on a Monday afternoon — to ensure that we’re doing everything possible to build these cases as quickly as quickly as we can.”
O’Hara says his investigators have also been working with closely with prosecutors to build stronger cases to prevent repeat offenders, but it can be difficult.
“When we have these crimes, several robberies happening in a short period of time, particularly when victims are being approached and the incident is over in less than a minute, sometimes by eight or nine juveniles, sometimes while they’re wearing masks, it becomes very difficult for victims to give us accurate descriptions, to give us license plates, identifying information, that all complicates building these cases,” he said “So there’s been a whole lot of hard work that has gone into this. There’s a number of strategies, you know, and collaborations with other law enforcement that we’re putting together that the community will be seeing very publicly, very soon within the coming weeks, both to get violent offenders off the street and also to try and get as many illegal weapons that we can off the street before the summer hits.”
O’Hara says one of the biggest sources of help in police work continues to be tips from the community.
“If you do see people that look like they’re too young to be driving a car, circling an area driving recklessly, people driving around wearing masks, call that in, because that may be the clue for who we’re looking at a particular moment. And that has been very helpful to make arrests,” he said.
A Minneapolis grocery store owner faces felony charges in what investigators say was a million-dollar food assistance fraud scheme.
Abdid-Wahid Mohamed is accused of using other people’s EBT cards to get more than a million dollars to buy items from wholesale stores that he later sold at his own store.
EBT cards work like debit cards for low-income families who receive government-paid benefits.
Investigators said Mohamed owned Minnesota Food Grocery LLC near West Lake Street in Minneapolis and was seen buying items such as energy drinks and baby formula with EBT cards that did not belong to him.
Investigators said Mohamed then loaded the goods into his vehicles and took them to Minnesota Food Grocery, where they were unloaded and placed on store shelves for resale.
The court filing says one woman identified as F.F. told investigators she had not paid for groceries at Minnesota Food Grocery for more than 1.5 years after agreeing to let Mohamed use her EBT card.
The charging document says that between March 8, 2021 and Aug. 10, 2021, Mohamed received $1,141,082 in EBT payments.
If convicted, Mohamed could face up to 20 years in prison.
Food insecurity in Minnesota: SNAP cuts and rising demand
Minnesota food shelves are facing growing pressure as potential federal SNAP cuts, rising grocery prices and increased demand strain already limited resources. Some providers also report impacts tied to recent immigration enforcement activity, with families hesitant to seek assistance. Wendy Behm of ACBC Food Shelf joins to discuss how organizations are responding, efforts to combat food insecurity across the state, and what’s at stake during the current legislative session. Learn more at acbcfoodshelf.com.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – A Minneapolis grocery store owner is facing a felony charge after investigators say he trafficked more than $1.1 million in SNAP benefits using other people’s EBT cards.
SNAP benefits trafficking investigation leads to felony charge
What we know:
According to criminal charges filed in Hennepin County Court, Abdidwahid Mohamed, owner of Minnesota Food Grocery LLC, is accused of using EBT cards registered to other people to purchase items like energy drinks and baby formula at Sam’s Club and Costco between March 8, 2021 and August 10, 2021. The goods were then resold at his store.
The complaint states law enforcement says they watched Mohamed make the purchases and tracked him returning directly to his store with the items. Video surveillance and GPS data confirmed the trips, and investigators say many of the EBT cardholders were out of the country or denied shopping at the stores Mohamed visited.
The complaint states, “Mohamed received $1,141,082 in EBT payments” during the period in question. The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is designed to help low-income households buy food, with benefits issued through EBT cards that work like debit cards.
Wal-Mart team sparks investigation
The backstory:
The investigation began when Wal-Mart’s Global Investigation Team flagged suspicious EBT transactions at Sam’s Club locations in Minneapolis. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) was contacted in May 2021, and surveillance of Mohamed followed.
The complaint states on Aug. 10, 2021, law enforcement executed search warrants at Mohamed’s store and vehicles. He was arrested at a Sam’s Club in Bloomington with an EBT card and a handwritten note containing a PIN number. Interviews with more than two dozen EBT cardholders revealed that many claimed their cards were lost or had never been used at the stores in question.
One woman admitted she had not shopped at Minnesota Food Grocery for more than a year-and-a-half after agreeing to let Mohamed use her EBT card.
The complaint states the offense “involved a high degree of sophistication or planning or occurred over a lengthy period of time.”
What’s next:
If convicted, Mohamed faces up to 20 years in prison or a $100,000 fine.
The Source: Information from a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.
Minneapolis, MN
Truck driver dead after crash sends Metro Transit bus into home in south Minneapolis
It happened early Monday morning in Minneapolis.
One person is dead and another is hospitalized after an early-morning crash in south Minneapolis on Monday that sent a Metro Transit bus into a home.
It happened at around 4 a.m. at 10th Avenue South and East 38th Street, just a few blocks east of George Floyd Square.
A spokesperson for Metro Transit police tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that a truck was speeding down 10th Avenue when it hit the back of the bus, ripping a tire off the bus and sending it into the front of a home.
The driver of that truck died, according to Metro Transit police, while the driver of the bus was taken to a hospital but is expected to be OK.
Officials say nobody besides the driver was on the bus at the time, and the home the bus hit was also empty at the time.
Investigators are still at the scene, working to clean up all of the debris and determine exactly what led up to the crash.
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS is at the scene and working to learn more. Download the KSTP app and follow 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on social media for the latest updates.
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