The case of Abdimahat Mohamed has gained national attention after the Somali national was charged in another sexual assault case and hit with federal kidnapping charges.
Earlier this year, Mohamed pleaded guilty in two separate sexual assault cases in Hennepin County. In one of the cases, Mohamed was charged with raping a 15-year-old female victim in 2017 after he kidnapped her and another man had threatened her with a gun.
Charges from the other case accused Mohamed of raping and threatening an adult female in 2024. In both cases, the most serious sex crime charges against Mohamed were dropped and he pleaded guilty to lesser sex crimes.
Mohamed, 28, was eventually sentenced to three years in prison, but that sentence was stayed. He was ordered to register as a sex offender and complete five years of probation. He did not serve any time in prison.
Last week, prosecutors in Hennepin County charged Mohamed with kidnapping and another sex crime. According to the charges, Mohamed is accused of picking up a woman in September, bringing her to a hotel, telling her she could not leave, and forcing her to have sex.
After news of the most recent sexual assault charges became a national story, the U.S. Justice Department decided to bring federal kidnapping charges against Mohamed related to the 2017 sexual assault and this month’s new charges.
A Justice Department official confirmed that Mohamed first entered the United States in 2015 via a refugee program under the Obama Administration.
FBI agent says Moriarty agreed not to prosecute 2018 assault in plea deal
As part of the federal charges, an FBI special agent authored an affidavit that documented Mohamed’s criminal history. According to that affidavit, Mohamed participated in another sexual assault in 2018.
That assault, the agent said, happened in May of 2018 and involved Mohamed and another man. The FBI affidavit says Mohamed met up with an adult female, she got in his car, and Mohamed drove to a Minneapolis alley where he sexually assaulted her.
The affidavit says another man showed up outside the car, got in the backseat, pointed a gun at the victim’s head, and threatened to kill the victim if she did not perform oral sex on him. Afterward, the victim was reportedly pushed out of the car.
In 2025, Mohamed would plead guilty to the sexual assaults that occurred in 2017 and 2024. However, the FBI affidavit says the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office agreed not to bring criminal charges for the May 2018 sexual assault as part of the 2025 plea deal.
Specifically, the affidavit says: “As part of the plea agreement, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office agreed that the 2018 under investigation would not be charged (the May 2018 kidnapping and sexual assault of Victim 3) and to 0 – 5 years of probation.”
Alpha News reached out to Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty to ask why she agreed not to press charges for the 2018 case as part of the plea deal. However, her office did not respond to media inquiries.
Moriarty says case against Mohamed was weakened, praises Somali community
After national attention was drawn to Mohamed’s case, Moriarty released a statement that discussed why Mohamed did not receive prison time as a result of the offenses for which he pleaded guilty.
“This office overcame the loss of critical witnesses to secure felony convictions against Mr. Mohamed earlier this year,” Moriarty said. “Because our case was substantially weakened, we could not get the prison sentence we wanted.”
“Losing witnesses is one of the realities of prosecuting difficult sexual assault cases, something about which the current Justice Department knows little,” added Moriarty.
Moriarty’s statement, which repeatedly attacked the Trump Administration, also accused the Justice Department of politicizing Mohamed’s case in an effort to “inflict harm on our entire Somali community.”
Her statement did not mention the 2018 assault or a decision not to charge that case.
Just three days before releasing that statement, Moriarty posted a video after news broke about new immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota. In that video, Moriarty denied the existence of Somali gangs, said her office would not help with the immigration enforcement efforts, and praised the Somali community in Minnesota.
“From our small business owners, to our healthcare workers, to our Lyft and Uber drivers, to children growing up in Cedar-Riverside, and families shopping at the Karmel Mall, our Somali community members are what makes Minneapolis one of the finest places in the world to live,” Moriarty said.
“We will not let Trump’s hatred divide us,” she added. “We will stand side by side with our Somali community members.”
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
