Posted on 02/18/2006 3:27:59 PM PST by buccaneer81
Five Somali men plead guilty to robberies in plea deals All of them will face the risk of deportation after serving sentences Saturday, February 18, 2006 Kevin Mayhood THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH SHARI LEWIS | DISPATCH Muhadin Munye, 21, reacts in court after accepting a plea deal and a nine-year prison sentence for robberies he committed with four others.
Five young men suspected in more than 25 armed robberies in August have pleaded guilty to a handful and agreed to testify against other defendants.
The men, all from the West Side, were a one-car crime wave on the West Side and in Hilliard, police said. Often seen leaving in a white Honda with Missouri plates, the robbers stuck guns in the faces of pizza delivery drivers, men and women just walking to or from or sitting in their cars. They invaded the home of a family, holding a gun and knife on them as they stole their possessions, police said.
Though adults, the men, all Somalis, were directed by a modern-day "Fagan" — an elder or group of elders — said Gary H. Dicker, attorney for Muhadin Munye, the last defendant to enter a plea.
Dicker said there appears to be at least one other gang robbing for "Fagan," the name of the character in Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist who taught orphans to steal.
After months of negotiating, Mohamed Margen, 22, took the first deal Thursday afternoon. He pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated robbery and was sentenced to nine years in prison. He agreed to testify against his co-defendants. His attorney said he got in with the wrong group.
Yesterday morning, two others were ready to deal and one was leaning toward cooperating. But suddenly, there was balking. Their attorneys said the Somalis were afraid they’d be deported after they served their prison terms.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Daniel T. Hogan told the attorneys that they had known deportation was a possibility since they were charged Aug. 24.
Turning up the heat, Assistant County Prosecutor Sue Ann Reulbach said, "So long as I have to try one, I might as well try them all." She banged a stack of papers on the table, then told the defense attorneys all deals were off unless all four agreed to plea deals by 11 a.m.
Soon after 11, Reulbach agreed to keep the deals with two of the men.
Mohamed Abdi, 19, whose car was used in the crimes, pleaded to two counts of aggravated robbery and was sentenced to 4 years in prison. He agreed to cooperate with the prosecution, testify against others and take a polygraph to satisfy authorities.
His attorney, Samuel B. Weiner, said Abdi was with "some buddies, who were not a good influence on him."
Abdullahi Aden, 20, took the same deal. His attorney, Gregory D. Slemmer, said, "My client is the least culpable. It was a bad decision he made to be around the other individuals."
Hogan noted in court that Aden was the third to plead guilty and that "each one said they were with the wrong people."
"When will we get to the point where someone will say, ‘I’m the wrong people?’ "
While the other two entered their pleas, Jamal Yusuf, 20, agreed to take the deal Reulbach had offered earlier. Yusuf pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated burglary and six counts of aggravated robbery and was sentenced to nine years in prison. He admitted he pulled a knife during a home invasion and that he robbed two women who were parked in a grocery store parking lot. He also agreed to testify against others and take a lie-detector test.
Munye, 21, sat with his adoptive father in the back of the courtroom, watching his old high-school buddies, one by one. Two victims and the two police officers who had arrested him were in the courtroom, prepared to testify.
Munye faced up to 109 years in prison if convicted of all charges. Finally, he agreed to plead guilty to seven counts of aggravated robbery. He was sentenced to nine years in prison and the likelihood that an immigration court will order him sent back to his homeland.
"His parents were tortured to death in front of him in Somalia," Dicker said.
"He faces deportation to Somalia . . . a fate worse than prison."
kmayhood@dispatch.com
The Columbus media always makes the local Somalis out to be saints, oppressed by the locals. It must have killed them to print this story.
Ping!
They face the RISK of deportation?? What, unless they become model citizens. Unless they promise to never do it again. Unless they???? THey should be deported. ANY law breaker's citizenship should be RESCINDED. And we should send them our idiots, too.
Oh, WAAAAHHH, his childhood made him do it. No, his buddies. No, his neighbors. No ... He must be sent home to mama.
The local mullah?
How do these scumbags get here? I mean, its not as if they walked, like the Mexicans do. We have enough miscreants of our own without importing them!! Send them back, forget the jail time!!
Better yet, why do we continue to add to our "trade deficit" by "importing" stuff that harms our health more than liquor or cigarettes ever will?? These "Somalis" evidently had what INS terms "sponsors". Whatever happened to the concept that said sponsors are responsible for their sponsorees---such as the "adoptive father"??
Unpossible! Diversity is our strength!
I'll tell you how a large majority are getting here. Catholic charities. I left Ohio two years ago as they kept on coming. I'm sure there are other faiths but I know for sure that the Catholic Church brings in many through their missions. It's a crying shame. They moved into section 8 housing and started creating problems immediately wherever they went.
Send them back to Mogadishu immediately.
It just warms my heat to know that defense attorneys are running around to help their clients collude to "get their stories straight" like a bunch of little kids. Truth, justice nor the law will ever get in the way of their wining a case and collecting a egregious fee.
"St. Paul, Minn. — (AP) - Minnesota saw its third largest influx of immigrants in a quarter century in 2004, with immigrants from Somalia leading the pack.
In all, 11,708 legal immigrants came to Minnesota in 2004, according to Department of Homeland Security data released by the State Demographic Center.
That put the state at 16th nationally, but it was first in the number of Somali immigrants, at 1,445. Ohio was a distant second, with 572 Somali immigrants."
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