A Hennepin County District Court jury Tuesday found former Minneapolis parks employee Hashim Yonis guilty of felony theft for pocketing soccer field rental money.
The jury found that Yonis took less than $1,000, which was far less than the more than $5,000 the prosecution claimed. Ira Whitlock, attorney for Yonis, said he plans an appeal on several grounds.
The conviction is a blow for the politically ambitious community activist. Then-Mayor R.T. Rybak took Yonis with him to the White House in 2012 to tout a city youth jobs program, and President Obama embraced him as "my East African brother." Yonis is a Somali civil war refugee.
Yonis was accused of not turning over money collected from the organizer of a soccer league who rented fields on weekends at Currie Park in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood last year.
The typical sentence for his offense is probation and a stayed sentence of one year and one day. Prosecutor Susan Crumb said the county will seek restitution of the money to the Park Board and the soccer promoter. Sentencing by Judge Tanya M. Bransford is scheduled for Jan. 23.
"It is frustrating for the kid," Whitlock said after the verdict. "Clearly we are highly disappointed."
He called it a major inconsistency that the jury was instructed that it could find Yonis guilty for taking lesser amounts after he was charged with taking more than $5,000. But Chuck Laszewski, a spokesman for the county attorney's office, said prosecutors may ask for a lesser charge to be included in jury instructions. "Maybe the jury thought they were making a compromise," Whitlock said.
The allegations came as the 27-year-old North Side resident was campaigning for a citywide seat on the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. He subsequently lost jobs with both the park and school districts.
