Wife of man who set St. Paul fires during 2020 rioting sentenced for aiding flight to Mexico
A Rochester, Minn., woman was sentenced Tuesday to three years of probation for being with her husband when he set fires in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood during rioting that followed the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd — and then fleeing with him to Mexico.
Mena Dhaya Yousif, 24, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact in connection with the fires on May 28, 2020.
Yousif’s husband, 36-year-old Jose Angel Felan Jr., was sentenced in October to 6½ years in federal prison for setting the University Avenue fires at Gordon Parks High School, Goodwill and 7-Mile Sportswear. Felan also was ordered to pay $39,000 in restitution.
Felan was seen on a surveillance camera starting a fire at the Goodwill and later identified through tips after the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives released photos to the public in early June 2020, according to court documents. Yousif is seen in the photos standing next to him.
Following the fires, the couple fled Minnesota in Felan’s Cadillac SRX and headed toward Mexico. Yousif was several months pregnant with a high-risk pregnancy, according to court documents. On June 9, law enforcement in Missouri pulled over Yousif, who was driving her husband’s car; she refused to give up any information regarding his whereabouts.
Members of Felan’s family assisted the couple in crossing the border into Mexico, court documents say, and they remained hidden there for approximately eight months. In February 2021, following a tip, they were located and arrested by Mexican immigration authorities and returned to Minnesota. Yousif birthed a son while in Mexico, according to a 2021 report by the New York Times.
Last month, prosecutors recommended that Yousif receive two years of probation, noting in a December court document that she has no criminal history and did not help her husband or others in damaging the properties. Prosecutors also pointed out her pregnancy. “While it is not an excuse, that fact provides greater context that is relevant in determining [Yousif’s] culpability,” the court document read.
Felan and Yousif are the last of 16 people to face federal sentencing in connection with the arsons that followed Floyd’s killing.
Nearly a year ago, a third defendant in the high school arson, 22-year-old Mohamed Hussein Abdi, was given five years of probation after pleading guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit arson. The Maplewood man was also ordered to pay $34,000 in restitution at his February sentencing.
