Pelican Rapids man pleads guilty in Feeding Our Future fraud case

Abdirashid Bixi Dool, 36, of Pelican Rapids pleaded guilty July 13 to one count of wire fraud in the Feeding Our Future case, a federal child nutrition fraud investigation that has shaken confidence in how public meal dollars were handled in Minnesota. Prosecutors say his conduct was tied to more than $330,000, and he now faces up to 20 years in prison.

The guilty plea matters in Otter Tail County because Dool lived in Pelican Rapids while the fraud scheme reached far beyond one town. Feeding Our Future was built around federal money meant to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the larger case has been described as a $250 million fraud scheme. For families who rely on school and nonprofit meal programs, the plea adds another local name to a case that has become a symbol of how vulnerable those dollars were to abuse.

Federal prosecutors have alleged that Dool submitted false meal counts, inflated vendor invoices and created fake rosters of children. The nonprofits tied to those allegations included Bilaal Mosque, according to the charging information referenced in court reporting. The case centers on paperwork and billing that was supposed to reflect real meals served to real children, not fabricated records used to pull in taxpayer money.

Dool is now the 68th defendant convicted in the case, a sprawling prosecution that has produced dozens of guilty pleas and verdicts. He had previously been indicted on seven counts and was the 78th defendant charged, according to earlier court coverage. The pace of convictions has made the Feeding Our Future case one of the largest public-funds fraud cases in Minnesota history.

The broader case has already reached some of the biggest names in the investigation, including Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock, and the ringleader has been sentenced to 500 months in prison, according to Internal Revenue Service material tied to the case. Dool’s plea keeps the focus on how money intended for child nutrition was diverted and how federal prosecutors continue to unwind the scheme defendant by defendant.