Eden Prairie Man Charged with Car Theft for Third Time

An Eden Prairie man has been arrested for car theft for the third time in three months.  

Jibril Osman Abdi, 32, was arrested Dec. 29 in Minneapolis and charged with car theft and receiving stolen property, both felonies with maximum penalties of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

A security employee at a Minneapolis store told an off-duty Minneapolis police officer on Dec. 29 that he knew the suspect recorded on surveillance video in a stolen car on Dec. 25, according to the criminal complaint, signed by Minneapolis Police Sgt. Joel Sandberg.

The employee told the officer that the suspect was Abdi, who had been in the store several times.

The officer spotted Abdi in the vicinity and approached him. As the two were speaking, another man came up and asked the officer if Abdi was going to be arrested, and if so, whether he could drive Abdi’s car home, according to the complaint.

The officer asked the man to show him the car to which he was referring. When he checked the car’s license plate, he discovered that it had been reported stolen the same day from Roseville. The car’s ignition collar had been damaged, allowing the car to be started without an ignition key.

Abdi was arrested and taken to jail. The officer returned to the store and reviewed surveillance video, which showed Abdi driving the stolen car earlier that day.

Officers confronted Abdi with the surveillance video, but he denied being in the stolen car.

Abdi was charged in October with car theft, and was arrested again in December and charged with receiving stolen property after police say they found him asleep in a stolen car. 

Abdi remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $5,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled Jan. 8 in Hennepin County District Court.