On November 13, 2025, at approximately 8:46pm, Cottage Grove police officer C. Pfeiffer was dispatched to a reported shoplifting incident at the Ulta store, City of Cottage Grove, Washington County. While enroute, dispatch advised Ofc. Pfeiffer that the suspects included a black male and female who had left in a silver sedan. Upon arrival, Ofc. Pfeiffer spoke with the reporting store employee. The store employee reported that the black male had entered the store, began placing multiple pieces of Ulta merchandise into a store bag, and then exit past all points of sale with the bag without offering any form of payment.
In total, Ulta calculated the total value of the stolen merchandise to be $1,920.00. After the theft occurred, the male and female entered a motor vehicle bearing MNLIC PBB405, a silver 2009 Hyundai Sonata. This same Hyundai Sonata later fled from Bloomington and Richfield law enforcement officers in the early morning hours of November 14, 2025. The driver in that incident was ultimately identified as ZEKERIA ABDI YUSUF [DOB REDACTED]. YUSUF was booked into the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center ("ADC") due to this offense.
While YUSUF remained in custody at the ADC, Cottage Grove police detective T. Mulvihill performed an interview related to the 11/13/2025 theft from Ulta in Cottage Grove. In a post-Mirandastatement, YUSUF advised that on 11/13/2025, he had come into possession of the motor vehicle bearing PBB405. He stated he met up with a male he knew only as "Amin" and a female. The pair asked YUSUF to drive them to Ulta in Cottage Grove so they could steal. YUSUF stated he agreed to do so. After the theft incident, YUSUF drove the parties away from the Ulta store, and he was provided several bottle of cologne that had been stolen by the male suspect as a reward for his services.
Through further investigation conducted by law enforcement, the male known to YUSUF as "Amin", who had stolen the merchandise from Ulta on 11/13/2025 was determined to be AMIN AHMED OMAR [DOB REDACTED].
