Shoshanna Utchenik ticklethewire.com In general, the entrepreneurial spirit should be lauded. Unfortunately, in this case, it was purely criminal. According to an FBI press release, 15 defendants allegedly registered 80 fake business names in Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota, then used these to file for unemployment insurance benefits to the tune of $8.7 Million. Defendants reportedly…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com The remains of a suicide bomber in Somalia are being tested by the FBI. Some believe the bomber may be one of at least 21 young Somali-American men that in recent years have left Minneapolis to join al-Shabab, the Somali terrorist group, reports the Associated Press. If tests confirm the deceased…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com It wasn’t the Avon lady. It wasn’t even two generous ladies seeking donations for the poor and needy of Somalia they claimed to be. Amina Farah Ali, 35, and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 64, two naturalized U.S. citizens from Somalia living in Rochester, Minn., were convicted Thursday in federal court in Minneapolis…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The new acting director of ATF, B. Todd Jones, is no stranger to federal law enforcement. In fact Jones is on his second go around as U.S. Attorney in Minnesota. Jones, who will remain the U.S. Attorney in Minnesota while serving as acting head of ATF, was first appointed to the…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Greyhound it ain’t. The U.S. Secret Service has purchased a new $1.1 million bus that President Barack Obama is using for his travels through the Midwest, the Associated Press reported. The AP described the bus as “an impenetrable-looking conveyance the size of a cross-country Greyhound, painted all in black, with dark…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com If you’re going to hire someone to help in a federal criminal matter, it can’t hurt to get an attorney who use to head up the FBI. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh was hired by Minnesota businessman Nasser Kazeminy, who was under investigation for allegations that he gave Sen. Norm Coleman…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. gets his fair share of grief inside the Beltway, particularly from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee. But some of that grief on Friday came from elsewhere: the heartland. Minnesota Public Radio reported that Holder’s speech in Minneapolis at a conference on preventing youth violence…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A 48-year-old administrative officer for the DEA has been indicted in Minneapolis for producing child pornography involving a 15-year-old boy. Scott James Whitcomb of Zimmerman, Minn., was indicted Thursday in federal court and charged with coercing a 15-year-old boy into engaging in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing pornography,…
