Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Minnesota Fraud Suspect Jumps From Fourth-Story Balcony To Escape Feds

Billy Hathorn, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

A man in Minnesota suspected of fraud jumped from a fourth-floor balcony window in an effort to evade authorities, according to news coverage.

FBI Co-Deputy Director Christopher Raia said during a Thursday press conference that authorities are now searching for a suspect connected to the investigation who remains at large after jumping from a window on the fourth floor of a building, ABC News 4 reported. Raia also showed video footage showing the suspect limping away from the scene.

U.S. officials announced Thursday that 15 people in Minnesota have been charged over their involvement in fraud schemes that allegedly targeted seven separate state-managed Medicaid programs and over $90 million in taxpayer dollars, The New York Post reported. Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division Colin McDonald identified the suspect as Muhammad Omar, and said he had been charged in one of the fraud cases, according to ABC News 4.

McDonald also said he “would encourage the public to help turn this man in to face justice for the fraud that he has perpetrated — and now to face the additional charges for seeking to flee from law enforcement and seeking to obstruct justice by virtue of his conduct today,” the outlet reported.

“We need your help,” Raia said during the press conference, according to ABC News 4. “If you recognize this individual, if you know this individual, if you can provide any information related to this individual, I would encourage you to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.”

When reached for comment, the Justice Department and the FBI each directed the Daily Caller News Foundation to Raia’s comments from the Thursday press conference.

The Trump administration has made an effort to combat fraud across the nation — and particularly in Minnesota — in recent months. The administration announced it is temporarily halting new home health and hospice providers from enrolling in Medicare as part of its broader fraud crackdown, Reuters first reported on May 13.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer issued a Thursday statement praising the administration for “taking action to hold accountable criminals who are defrauding the American people and stealing from our nation’s most vulnerable.”

“Our investigation into rampant fraud in Minnesota revealed that Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of widespread fraud in social service programs, lied about their knowledge of the fraud, and retaliated against employees who dared to raise concerns, Comer added. “Instead of protecting vulnerable Americans, they handed over billions in taxpayer dollars to fraudsters and threw their own state employees under the bus.”