A Minnesota judge has found a former Teacher of the Year guilty of sexually abusing a 14-year-old student.
Abdul Jameel Wright was convicted Wednesday after waiving his right to a jury trial, according to KMSP.
The case originated in 2017, when the victim’s mother reported to police that her daughter had been repeatedly assaulted by Wright.
The victim testified that Wright began abusing her shortly after he was named Teacher of the Year in early 2016.
She told the court the assaults occurred more than “50 times” at various locations, including the Best Academy in Minneapolis, KMSP noted further.
The victim testified the abuse also took place in Wright’s car, at her family’s apartment, and at a residence where he was staying. She said Wright forced her to use contraceptives weekly while the assaults continued.
After the verdict, her father said justice had “prevailed,” while her attorneys praised her decision to come forward. The victim is also pursuing a civil suit against Wright and the school’s former leadership.
The incident is just the latest in a string of calamities to hit Minnesota during the tenure of Gov. Tim Walz, who ran as then-Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate last year.
Last month, Robin Westman, a biological male formerly known as Robert Westman, opened fire through the stained-glass windows of Annunciation Catholic School near Minneapolis, where he had once been a student, during a back-to-school Mass, killing two children and wounding 17 parishioners.
In June, Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed in their home near Minneapolis. The same suspect, Vance Boelter, 57, also shot and wounded Democratic state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in their home later in the evening.
Reports at the time said he then traveled to the homes of two other Democratic politicians, but they were not present.
Last month, Democratic Minnesota State Senator Nicole Mitchell announced her resignation from the state senate after being convicted of first-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools for breaking into her stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home on April 22, 2024.
Her conviction was all but assured after she testified that she’d entered her stepmother’s home simply to perform a “welfare check,” CNS News reported.
Her account was undermined by body‑cam footage showing her dressed in all black with a ski mask still over her face—and by her admission during the arrest that she was “just trying to get some of my dad’s things.”
“I know I did something bad,” Mitchell told a police officer.
Two weeks ago, the FBI raided Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program, which is intended to help older adults and people with disabilities, including those with substance use disorders and mental illness, secure housing.
Investigators executed search warrants at eight locations tied to five Twin Cities providers accused of fraudulently billing for services they did not deliver.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said Minnesota faces a serious fraud problem, a concern previously raised by his predecessor, Andrew Luger. He added that the issue signals the need for a broader reckoning in the state.
Also in June, a long-time lobbyist in Minnesota faced criminal charges after reportedly threatening to shoot politicians at the Minnesota Capitol, describing how much ammunition he had, and noting he intended to “blow somebody’s face off.”
Jonathan Bohn, 41, of Woodbury, was charged with one count of threats of violence after a Waconia homeowner contacted the Carver County Sheriff’s Office on June 18, 2025, claiming to have received threatening text messages.