Crime, Law and Justice

First Feeding Our Future defendant sentenced gets 12 years
A federal judge Tuesday handed a 12-year prison term to the first defendant in the Feeding Our Future case to be sentenced. Mohamed Jama Ismail, the former co-owner of Empire Cuisine & Market in Shakopee, is one of five people convicted in June of stealing tens of millions of dollars from taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs.
2 charged after Twin Cities Buddhist, Hindu temples hit by national theft ring
Religious leaders at St. Louis Park’s Wat Promwachirayan Thai temple, Maple Grove’s Hindu Temple of Minnesota and Chaska’s Sri SaiBaba Mandir Hindu temple are still recovering from losing an estimated $100,000 this year.
Transit systems are targeting fare evaders to win back riders leery about crime
Transit systems are building stronger, better security gates to avoid fare skippers. It’s part of an effort to win back customers concerned about safety. But does cracking down on ticketless riders really help eliminate violent crime? Police in Washington, D.C.’s subway system the Metro have issued some 10,000 citations this year for fare evaders. 
Judge considers vacating a murder conviction, 16 years to the day after the shooting
A man serving a life sentence is one step closer to the possibility of walking free, after an evidentiary hearing Friday — exactly 16 years to the day from the murder he was convicted of committing.
Minneapolis Police Department applications continue to signal rebound
The department’s numbers took a significant dive after the police killing of George Floyd and the unrest that followed. But applications are up 45 percent this year compared to all of 2023. The department has received 1,014 applications so far this year — up from 697 last year. 
Jury convicts Derrick Thompson on gun, drug charges in 2023 crash that killed 5
A federal jury on Friday returned guilty verdicts against a Brooklyn Park man in connection with a crash last year that killed five young women on Lake Street in Minneapolis. Thompson’s conviction in this trial wasn’t for the crash itself, but the cocaine, 2,000 fentanyl pills, and gun that police found in the SUV.
Fearing obstruction, feds seek pause in Feeding Our Future civil suit ahead of criminal trial
A Ramsey County judge on Thursday agreed to put a key part of a Feeding Our Future civil case on hold after the federal prosecutor leading a related criminal case argued that the suit could interfere with an upcoming criminal trial.