The president and CEO of St. Cloud, Minn.-based Star Autism Center pleaded guilty on last week to one federal count of wire fraud, according to court documents.

Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf, 28, of St. Cloud, was charged with wire fraud in connection with a scheme that started in 2020 and continued through 2024 to defraud the publicly funded Early Intensive Development and Behavioral Intervention. That program offers medically necessary services to people under the age of 21 with autism spectrum disorder and other conditions.

According to charging documents, Yussuf approached parents in the Somali community to recruit their children into Star Autism Center. When children did not have an autism diagnosis, Yussuf and his partners worked to get the recruited child qualified for autism services.

Star Autism Center then used monthly cash kickback payments to parents who enrolled their children, contingent on the services that DHS authorized a child to receive. Parents received a higher kickback dependent on the authorization amount, according to court documents.

Yussuf and his partners submitted millions of dollars worth of claims for Medicaid reimbursement, which were fraudulently inflated and billed without providers’ knowledge, and for services that weren’t provided.

Star Autism Center received more than $6 million of public funds, and Yussuf shared the proceeds with other owners and investors in the business. According to court documents, Yussuf used more than $100,000 in fraud proceeds to purchase a semi-truck and sent more than $200,000 to Kenya.

Yussuf has not yet been sentenced. Star Autism Center had its license suspended in January.

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A man died in a snowmobile crash Thursday on the Arrowhead State Trail in northern St. Louis County.

According to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, first responders and law enforcement were dispatched at approximately 10:08 p.m. after a report of a missing snowmobiler on the trail, approximately 25 miles north of Orr. The reporting party indicated that a friend with whom he had been riding had become separated from the group.

Approximately an hour later, the lost friend was located and found dead lying near his snowmobile. The sheriff’s office said it appears he failed to navigate a 90-degree corner, resulting in a collision with a tree.

The victim is a 29-year-old man from North Branch. He was the only occupant on the snowmobile. His name has not yet been released, pending notification of his family.

The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office and St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office are still investigating the incident.

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Today is Monday, March 9, the 68th day of 2026. There are 297 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 9, 1959, the Barbie doll was introduced at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

Also on this date:

In 1796, the future emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, married Josephine de Beauharnais.

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In 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. The Amistad, ruled 7-1 in favor of a group of illegally enslaved Africans who were captured off the U.S. coast after seizing control of a Spanish schooner, La Amistad. The justices ruled that the Africans should be set free.

In 1862, during the American Civil War, the ironclad warships USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) clashed for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The first engagement of ironclad warships opened a new era in naval warfare.

In 1916, more than 400 Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans.

In 1945, during World War II, over 300 U.S. B-29 bombers began Operation Meetinghouse, a massive firebombing raid on Tokyo. The raid killed an estimated 100,000 civilians, left 1 million homeless and destroyed 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) of the city.

In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court, in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, raised the standard for public officials to prove they’d been libeled in their official capacity by news organizations.

In 1997, rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace) was killed in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles at age 24.

In 2022, a Russian airstrike devastated a maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, killing four people and wounding at least 17.

Today’s birthdays:

Singer Jeffrey Osborne is 78.
Actor Juliette Binoche is 62.
Actor Emmanuel Lewis is 55.
Actor Oscar Isaac is 47.
Comedian Jordan Klepper (TV: “The Daily Show”) is 47.
Rapper Chingy is 46.
Actor Matthew Gray Gubler is 46.
Retired soccer player Clint Dempsey is 43.
Olympic skiing gold medalist Julia Mancuso is 42.
Actor Brittany Snow is 40.
Rapper Bow Wow is 39.
Rapper YG is 36.
Social media personality Khaby Lame is 26.
Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Sunisa Lee is 23.

As they prepared for the start of the legal tampering period across the NFL, the Vikings found a way to keep a key contributor in house.

According to NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo, the Vikings agreed to terms with linebacker Eric Wilson on a 3-year, $22.5 million contract, which has $12.5 million fully guaranteed.

This is a fair deal for both sides considering the way Wilson, 31, produced for the Vikings last season.

He signed to be a special teams ace. He developed into a defensive force.

It’s not hyperbole to say Wilson is coming off his most impactful campaign to date. He starred as a human wrecking ball, finishing with 115 tackles and 6 1/2 sacks while starting 16 games for the Vikings.

According to Next Gen Stats, the 6 1/2 sacks and 40 pressures that Wilson recorded were the most among traditional linebackers.

Originally signed by the Vikings as an undrafted free agent, Wilson has also played for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Houston Texans, and the Green Bay Packers.

There’s reason to believe that Wilson could continue to be a key piece for the Vikings moving forward. He’s a highly instinctual player that seems to have found his stride late in his career while getting to play for defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

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