Abdimahat Bille Mohamed, now aged 29 of Minneapolis, appeared in federal court in downtown Minneapolis this morning in relation to his December 2025 indictment on two felony counts of kidnapping.
Your correspondent was there.
If his name rings a bell, his case has received extensive news coverage. Our own David Zimmer did a deep dive on the case back in December. After a quick summary, I’ll pick up the story where he left off.
Mohamed is a serial rapist, having been connected via positive DNA matches to five separate victims from incidents in December 2017, February 2018, May 2018, May 2024, and September 2025. The 2017 case involved a 15-year-old victim. The first three cases involved Mohamed working with one or two accomplices.
He pled guilty to felony criminal sexual conduct in two cases (12/17 and 5/24) in May 2025. The plea deal also covered the (uncharged) 5/18 case. Discussion during the plea hearing reveals that Mr. Mohamed is not a U.S. citizen (Case No. 27-cr-2423368, hearing transcript, p. 16, line 5).
He was given stayed sentences (zero (0) jail time) on the two state felony convictions.
The fifth case occurred (9/25) after his plea deal (5/25). He was arrested again on December 2, 2025. At this point, the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) had had enough, and issued this press release on December 4, noting,
Mohamed Allegedly Kidnapped and Gang Raped a 15-year-old Girl and Multiple Women
Abdimahat Bille Mohamed, 28, was charged by complaint with Kidnapping a Minor and Kidnapping, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen. As detailed in the complaint, Mohamed kidnapped and raped a 15-year-old girl in 2017 and an adult woman in 2025. In between, he raped at least three other women.
The DOJ confirmed that Mohamed is a Somali national. On December 11, a federal grand jury indicted Mohamed with felony kidnapping in the first and fifth rape cases. That he used social media (Snapchat and Instagram) to arrange the kidnappings provided the national angle needed for federal charges. Mr. Mohamed requires the use of a taxpayer-paid, Somali-language interpreter at all of his state and federal court appearances, in addition to his taxpayer paid (separate) lawyers for both venues.
From the DOJ press release,
“Given the history of the state prosecution of Abdimahat Bille Mohamed, my office will aggressively prosecute this serial rapist,” said U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen.
The soft-on-crime state prosecutor herself, Mary Moriarty, responded with this,
Yesterday’s DOJ press release is a clear attempt to politicize a sexual assault prosecution to inflict further harm on our entire Somali community.
“Politicize.” As for “harm,” Mr. Mohamed has admitted in open court to his role in committing three violent rapes, including one of an underage girl. Moriarty blames the poor results of her prosecution efforts on uncooperative witnesses.
But how is the result she obtained qualitatively different from taking a “weak” case to trial and losing? Either way, Mohamed was set free to (allegedly) commit a second kidnapping and a fifth rape?
Here’s a taste of the news coverage from last December,
- MPR News: Rape suspect allegedly resisted jailers, smeared feces ahead of hearing
- Fox 9 TV: Convicted sex offender, who served no prison time, charged in Bloomington rape
- New York Post: Serial rapist who dodged prison time now charged with kidnapping, raping woman over several days in Minnesota hotel
- Fox News: Minnesota repeat offender accused of kidnapping, rape after online pickup months after avoiding prison time
MPR News reported at the time,
Mohamed is not a U.S. citizen but is living in the country as a legal permanent resident.
Adding,
Federal prosecutors said that Mohamed faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years and up to life in prison if convicted of the kidnapping charges.
The bulk of today’s hearing was taken up with Mohamed’s (ultimately unsuccessful) effort to fire his federal lawyer. Early on, Mohamed dispensed with the use of the interpreter and insisted on addressing the court directly and unprompted, perhaps to the detriment of his case.
No date has been set for his federal trial. His state case on the latest incident appears to be on pause.