Former Minneapolis police employee charged with wage theft amid state probe into falsified overtime

A civilian Minneapolis police employee under internal investigation over falsified timecards this summer now stands charged with wage theft, amid accusations that he regularly bilked the city for overtime hours he never worked.

Abdirashid Ahmed Ali, 36, of Eden Prairie was charged with theft by swindle, a felony, in Hennepin County District Court via summons last month. He is accused of stealing at least $5,600 over a six-month span last year.

The Minneapolis Police Department’s Internal Affairs division uncovered “potential criminal conduct related to overtime” earlier this summer, prompting Chief Brian O’Hara to ask for assistance from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

In a July search warrant for employment records, a senior special agent with the BCA wrote that he was looking into whether Ali, a crime prevention specialist, falsely claimed overtime while working for both the MPD and the University of Minnesota.

A coworker had alleged that Ali claimed to work 12 hours per day, Monday through Thursday, for going to neighborhood association meetings he never attended. An investigation later determined that some of the events he logged overtime hours for in 2024 never actually occurred, according to the charges.

The University of Minnesota Department of Public Safety also hired Ali as a cultural liaison, and investigators found he claimed 81 hours of overtime pay while working overlapping hours at the university between April and October 2024.

He never reported that second job to MPD, as is required by policy, court records say.

It’s not clear whether the separation was voluntary.

Ali’s attorney could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.

Crime-prevention specialists are nonsworn civilian employees who act as community liaisons between residents and the police department. They conduct regular outreach and are tasked with informing neighborhood groups about the latest crime trends.

Ali, a former educator raised in Minneapolis, began working for the city in late 2017. He hoped to use his language skills to enhance community relations within MPD’s Second Precinct, according to a 2018 profile in the Northeaster newspaper.

Minneapolis payroll data shows Ali was paid at least $18,500 in overtime last year.

A heavy reliance on overtime, combined with retroactive pay in the current police labor contract, combined to create spending in that category last year of $28 million, some $12 million more than was budgeted. That pushed 66 employees’ overtime into six figures last year, according to city payroll data.

O’Hara told the Star Tribune in July that at least three officers were under investigation from Internal Affairs after an overtime audit found that some officers violated department policy. That audit revealed cases where officers claimed to have worked too many hours without taking the required eight-hour break in the 24-hour window, he said.

At least two of those under the microscope are supervisors, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation.

Ali is due back in court Jan. 22.