An Rochester man and woman face two felony charges each, after allegedly claiming to be the target of racial slurs in order to benefit from a community fundraiser.
Abdirahman Omar Yusuf, 20, and Ayan Abdiweli Othowaa, 23, were charged with two felonies each: conspiracy to commit theft by swindle, and conspiracy to commit theft by false representation.
The two are siblings.
In late April and early May, a video of a woman on a Rochester playground making racial slurs went viral on social media.
Shiloh Hendrix, the woman videotaped yelling slurs aimed at a child and adult, was charged Aug. 26 with three counts of disorderly conduct.
Shortly after the incident went viral, Hendrix started a fundraiser claiming to be the victim in the incident, which yielded hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Rochester NAACP started their own fundraiser to benefit the family of the children Hendrix had allegedly verbally assaulted.
They closed the fundraiser after obtaining more than $340,000.
In mid-May, Rochester police and the local branch of the NAACP confirmed that more than one family had come forward, claiming to be the victims in the viral video and hoping to collect the money from the NAACP fundraiser.
Both groups later said they were certain that they had identified the correct family following an intensive investigation.
The charging documents for Yusuf and Othowaa allege that on May 1, Yusuf exchanged messages with Othawaa “urging her to claim she was at the park.”
Someone with the username “Sarah” also exchanged messages with Yusuf about Hendrix and the NAACP fundraisers, saying they could split the money from one or both.
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On May 8, another person called the police to report that they had the wrong family.
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