Woman who delivered bribe to juror in Feeding Our Future case charged in drunken-driving crash

The woman who pleaded guilty to delivering a bag of cash to a juror in last year’s Feeding Our Future trial is now accused of crashing into another car while drunk.

Ladan Mohamed Ali, 32, of Fridley, was arrested Friday evening after she allegedly drove away from the scene of the crash on Highway 55 near Acacia Boulevard in Mendota Heights.

According to a criminal complaint, the other driver involved in the crash reported that Ali bumped into his car twice and refused to get out of her car. The driver said Ali “had heavily slurred speech and was honking her horn” before driving away in her Volkswagen Tiguan.

A Minnesota State Patrol lieutenant caught up with the Volkswagen, which was stopped in the center lane of Highway 62 at Highway 77. The lieutenant “immediately smelled the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” coming from inside the vehicle and noted Ali had slurred speech, glassy eyes and struggled to find her driver’s license.

Ali “almost fell over” getting out of the car, and a preliminary breath test recorded her blood alcohol content at 0.284, more than triple the legal limit, the complaint states.

Ali is charged with two counts of third-degree DWI, failing to give information in a collision and obstructing a peace officer.

As previously reported, Ali pleaded guilty to one count of bribery of a juror in September after she brought a bag containing $120,000 in cash to the home of a juror during the June trial. The juror was dismissed from the case.

Ali was on pretrial release while she awaited sentencing in the bribery case, but a probation officer on Wednesday filed a petition arguing that her arrest violated the terms of release.