Feeding Our Future: another failed attempt at guilty plea No. 19

Abdullahe Nur Jesow showed up more than 20 minutes late to court today, and when he finally arrived, he was in no mood to plead guilty.

Jesow claimed to have gotten lost on his way to the Federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, a fifteen-story building that takes up an entire city block. Court records confirm that he has been inside the building on at least one prior occasion.

He will soon become much better acquainted with the structure, as he now awaits a trial scheduled to begin October 14, 2025 (yes, 2025).

Jesow, now aged 64 of Columbia Heights, is Defendant No. 28 in the sprawling Feeding Our Future case. He joins Defendants Nos. 25 and 27 awaiting trial and all three are scheduled to be back in court on Sept. 10, for what is slated to be the first of a series of monthly mandatory status conferences.

Speaking of No. 27, Guhaad Hashi Said, he was last spotted in public one week ago, attending Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s victory party, celebrating her win in the Democratic primary election.

I had previously profiled Jesow in this piece in anticipation of the plea agreement. He is a member of the S&S Catering group of defendants.

In court this morning, since Jesow was there anyway, the judge proceeded to formally arraign Jesow on four counts of fraud and other charges. He entered a plea of not guilty.

A short discussion ensued as to the whereabouts of Jesow’s passport. He claims to have surrendered the document but no one in the room knew for certain. Jesow was to visit with Pre-Trial Services to sort all that out.

The prosecutor insisted on reading into the record the terms (now rejected and withdrawn) of the plea agreement that never happened. Jesow was facing the possibility of between 37 and 41 months in prison.

Jesow is requesting a Somali language interpreter be present at all future court proceedings in his case.

Jesow is now the second defendant to fail at guilty plea No. 19. An earlier attempt to reach that figure occurred back in March. Ahmed Artan (No. 8) had filed to plead guilty, but then quickly withdrew his notice and fired his lawyers. Artan, with a new lawyer, is looking at a March 2025 trial date with his separate group of co-defendants.

As for the rest of the Feeing Our Future case, a total of 23 defendants have either been convicted at trial (5) or pled guilty (18). To date, none have been sentenced.

Rumor has it that the five who were convicted at trial earlier this year will be sentenced this fall, with the sentencing of guilty pleas to follow some time later.