Feeding Our Future defendant gets 6.5 years for role in fraud case, trying to tamper with a witness

A Lakeville man tied to the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme was sentenced to 6.5 years in federal prison on Tuesday.

While the sentencing was for the count of wire fraud that 34-year-old Abdinasir Abshir pleaded guilty to, he faced higher sentencing guidelines due to his attempt to tamper with a witness.

Abshir admitted to approaching Sharmake Jama, a cooperating witness, in the hallway outside the courtroom where the jury trial of Aimee Bock and Salim Said was taking place. Court documents state he tried to get Jama to go into the bathroom with him.

Jama said he believed Abshir was trying to intimidate him.

U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Brasel said she sentenced Abshir to the top of the sentencing guidelines “to reflect the seriousness of the offense.”

Brasel added that she has spent a lot of time thinking about the attempt to tamper with a witness in the last few months, and noted the “blatant and egregious nature” of the offense.

PREVIOUS: Judge calls out ‘attack’ on justice system after witness tampering in Feeding Our Future trial

Before he was sentenced, Abshir acknowledged that he “made a mistake,” adding, “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about what I’ve done.”

Abshir has spent the last 16 months in Sherburne County Jail, which assists in housing federal inmates. His time in jail will count towards his federal sentence and will be followed by two years of supervised release.

Abshir must also pay back over $2.2 million in restitution, some of which will be joint with his co-defendants.

The fraud

Abshir registered Federal Child Nutrition Program sites Stigma-Free Mankato and J’s Sambusa under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future.

He reported serving thousands of meals per day at the two sites. Court documents state that Stigma-Free Mankato received $5.4 million in fraudulent payments.

Stigma-Free paid $100,000 in kickbacks to Feeding Our Future employee Abdikerm Eidleh and another $420,000 in administrative fees to Feeding Our Future.

You can find KSTP’s full coverage of the Feeding Our Future case here.
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