Rochester Siblings Accused of Trying to Steal Money Raised for Child Targeted by Racial Slur at Soldiers Field
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office has filed charges against a pair of siblings accused of trying to steal money raised for the family of a child, who was the target of racial slurs at a Rochester park.
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Court documents describe the eight-year-old boy as “profoundly and visibly autistic.”
A woman, identified as 35-year-old Shiloh Hendrix of Rochester, is accused of repeatedly directing a racial slur at the child after he took a packet of applesauce from her bag.
Hendrix, who is then seen in a video directing the same slur at a man who confronted her for using the slur towards the child, was charged earlier this week with three misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges.
Read More: City of Rochester Files Charges for Racist Incident at Soldiers Field Park
The video of the confrontation, which was filmed at Soldiers Field Park in Rochester on April 28, went viral and received national media attention. In response to a fundraiser started for Hendrix, the Rochester branch of the NAACP launched a fundraiser for the child’s family.
Brother & Sister Accused of Trying to Steal Funds Raised for Family of Child Accosted in Racist Incident at Rochester Park
On May 2, a man contacted the Rochester Police Department, claiming his son was the target of the racial slurs and that his daughter, identified as 23-year-old Ayan Abdiweli Othowaa of Rochester, was at the park with the child.
Othowaa told police that she saw Hendrix chase her little brother and repeatedly call him a racial slur. She repeated her account a second time, after police got a tip that they had the wrong family, the complaint says.
Othowaa granted officers a search of her phone, the charges say. Investigators discovered an audio recording between a representative of the NAACP and a man identified as 20-year-old Abdirahman Omar Yusuf of Rochester.
In the conversation, Yusuf was informed that another family had come forward.
The complaint says Yusuf is heard saying after a beep, “Why did you hang up? Oh my God. Now we’re going to look suspicious. Now we’re going to get in trouble.”
Detectives also found an exchange of messages, in which Yusuf sent Othowaa the viral video and said she was present for the incident. Othowaa denied being there and Yusuf responded by saying, “I’m not going to argue with you,” the complaint says.
When confronted with the messages, Othowaa admitted she lied to police about her little brother being accosted by Hendrix, court documents say.
Authorities then searched Yusuf’s phone and found he had sent and received multiple messages regarding the video and the Hendrix fundraiser.
A woman, described in the complaint as an intermediary with the NAACP named Sarah, offered to split the profits with Yusuf. The charges say the NAACP fundraiser was at $300,000 when Yusuf and Othowaa allegedly initiated their plan to steal the money.
Both Yusuf and Othowaa are each charged with felony counts of conspiracy to commit theft by swindle and conspiracy to commit theft by false representation.
They are being charged by summons and are due to make their first court appearances next year.
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