Minnesota men acquitted of sex trafficking charges

A federal appeals court has acquitted three Minnesota men of charges they were part of a sex trafficking ring.

A federal indictment alleged Idris Fahra, Andrew Kayachith and Yassin Yusuf were members of a Somali-American gang that trafficked young girls. The three were convicted by a Nashville, Tenn., jury in 2012, but a federal judge reversed the verdict.

On Wednesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld that reversal.

"It's pretty devastating to my client to have wasted more than four years of his life in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and one that now the appellate court agrees with that he didn't commit it," said David Komisar, Yusuf's attorney.

The court found the story of the victim in the case lacked credibility, Komisar added. The young Minneapolis woman said the young men had driven her around selling her for sex, including a trip to Tennessee.

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