Montreal Impact’s Mignane Diouf Arrested at Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport for Shoplifting
The Montreal Impact released a statement this afternoon confirming that forward Mignane Diouf was detained Sunday at the Minneapolis-St.Paul international airport, prior to the team’s return to Montreal. According to the press release, “Diouf was arrested for allegedly shoplifting. The club has hired counsel to provide legal representation for the player.”
The Impact were in the Twin Cities to play the NSC Minnesota Stars in a North American Soccer League match in which Montreal defeated the Stars 2-0. The 22-year-old Diouf entered the match as a sub in the 65th minute and saw 25 minutes of playing time.
According to a report at Radio-Canada, the team reported to the airport to fly back to Montreal on Sunday but their flight was delayed because of Hurricane Irene. At 2:52 CT Diouf was arrested for shoplifting from an electronics store near the airport. The arrest report states that Diouf allegedly took a pair of $600.00 headphones that had been on display. He was arrested, temporarily jailed then released on a $6,000.00 bond. IMSoccer News has requested a copy of the arrest report.
According to Radio-Canada, the report claims a group of Impact players entered the store and shopped. After Diouf left the store an employee noticed the missing headphones and notified security. Airport security watched video surveillance tapes. When Diouf was arrested he claimed he could pay for the headphones. The stores management gave Diouf the chance to pay for the headphones but his credit cards were rejected. At that point the store management decided to press charges.
The Washington Post reported this afternoon that charges have not yet been filed and there is no court date. Diouf was released and allowed to return to Montreal.
Diouf, who is from Senegal, could have destroyed his playing career in the U.S. and Canada. He does not have citizenship in either country and would have to be deported if charges are pressed and he is found guilty.
Diouf has played in 19 games in his first season with the Impact and has logged in 1,199 minutes with 3 goals and 2 assists.
The Impact statement said they will not comment any further until all information is gathered regarding this situation.
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well buying them in Canada would have cost him about $6.00 more. You can see the moral/financial dilemma he was facing , plus he probably needed them for the flight.
you can’t fix stupid
It’s really Brookstone’s fault. If they weren’t so freaking overpriced….
Grrrr. I know there are temptations for guys that go to Europe or North America for athletics to get in over their heads on issues that they wouldn’t face back home; higher wages, activities that aren’t illegal here, but are back home, issues that are illegal here and not back, but they are accustomed to them, and the list goes on.
$600 headphones are out of my price range, and I have a pretty decent job. I don’t know the average Division II soccer salary, but I doubt average breaks 50K a year. That being said, a few good years (or less) in Division II could land you elsewhere, and making far more. A decision like that one was so self destructive. I realize the temptation was there, I could read in between the lines of his credit cards being unable to get him out of his jam, but… risking everything?
There might be a life lesson in here somewhere. I will let you all know if I am able to find it.
The life lesson is, “thou shall not steal”
I’m kinda puzzled by them hiring a lawyer.
If, while not working, I commit a crime, I sure as hell don’t expect my boss to help me out with my defense. Nor do I expect it even when I’m on the clock, unless *maybe* it’s a criminal charge somehow related to something I did on the job that my employer approved of and thought was legit and worth fighting. But probably not even then.
Am I the only one who feels bad for this kid? I mean, sure, “You do the crime, be prepared to do the time,” and all that stuff, but he could get deported! In which case, he can say goodbye to ever getting a visa in a major Western country again. I really hope that the Impact can help him get this worked out with the retailer in some way.
I can’t condone what he did, but I hope he hasn’t thrown away a promising career over a pair of overpriced made-in-China headphones. At his age, the reward/consequence part of his brain hasn’t fully kicked in. I say give him a break if this is his first offense.
It would probably be cheaper for the Impact to pay for the headphones and try to make this thing go away…than hiring an attorney!
Second Yellow, I’m pretty sure we are way past that point. If the Impact payed the 6K for him to get out of jail and go home, you know that they would have been working on this as well.
teucer, He was on Impact business when traveling. I’m pretty sure if this was any sports team they would be trying to keep the fallout from this to a minimum and with what little of what I know of the Impact organization, Joey won’t be happy but he’s going to take care of his own. I don’t find it strange at all that they are trying to guide, and help a 22-year old make things right and try to save as much face as possible themselves.
Weirdly, Montreal has imploded more than once when in MN.
As well, I don’t know if it’s much good even if his credit cards would have (allegedly) cleared. In the U.S. Gov’t's own immigration and crime handbook, it says that stores shouldn’t try to accept payment from shoplifters once they are caught. (Again, these are allegations… sorry, coming from Canada, and we have radically different restrictions on how we write about criminal activity as opposed to the U.S.) Has to do with “moral turpitude” and how America would see people coming into the country on work permits and/or green cards.
I’ve travelled with youth soccer teams I coach and I make a point of telling them that it’s a privilege to be allowed in to another country and that when they’re there, they’re representing themselves, their family, their club and their country.
When that country not only lets you visit but lets you earn a living, it’s a massive privilege.
To steal anything in this situation is not just wrong but fundamentally insulting. To steal a pair of expensive headphones…as someone above said, you can’t fix stupid.
If and just if, you were going to steal something, I can’t think of a worse place to do it then an airport which has higher security than a bank. Everything is monitored and everything had a video camera trained on it. I have now received the police report from the MSP Airport Police and have talked to a spokesperson with the airport. I’ll have a story later but for now, Diouf was charged this morning in Hennepin County. I have learned that he spent a night in jail there and then was released after the bond was posted on Monday morning.
@bullsear: Even if he stole them, I also feel sorry for the kid. As someone who has made a lot of STUPID, dumb@ss decisions in his life, I have a lot of sypmathy for him. The risk was nowhere near worth the “reward”; the final price for those headphones is going to be way more than the $600.
I’m hoping that Uncle Joey’s crack legal team can help him resolve the matter.
I’m also hoping that he learned a big lesson. This kind of story always reminds me of why I never attempted to shoplift (in addition to it being wrong and illegal, of course)–when you get grabbed–the bottom line price for whatever the item is that you coveted/needed just is way too high.
Even if this can get resolved, $600 worth of merchandise will get you a felony charge in a lot of states down here. When it is time to apply for another visa, the arrest alone could be enough to jam him up when he wants to work or visit the States in the future. You usually have to answer a question about not only convictions but arrests, as well.
The store is making an example of him and sending a message that whether or not they have shop saying “shoplifters will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law”–they are tired of losing money getting ripped off…It also wouldn’t surprise me one bit if airport management wasn’t encouraging them to keep pressing the issue.
Good to hear from you Yank. We’ve missed your presence and insight.
The police report says the manager of the store, “In Motion Pictures”, called his managers to see how they wanted to handle it and they told him to press charges.
Good to be back to my safe Minnesotan home…
I for one have no sympathy for the guy. He’s 22, not 4. Stealing is wrong, period. For whatever reason he made a very stupid decision to try and shoplift. Now he’ll pay. Let him be an example for any other young person giving consideration to the same course of action. Nothing to gain, and everything to lose by one dumbass action. And I don’t blame the store for a second for pursuing him and every other person caught trying to steal. Losers like that are part of the reason stores have to constantly jack up prices.
It’s a yankiboy sighting!!!!
“It’s a yankiboy sighting!!!!”
-Trademark typos and all…
The thing I am curious about is that the police report makes no mention of the airport police attempting to contact the Senegal Embassy on Diouf ‘s behalf. I thought that there was some international treaty or something that requires police to do this when they are dealing with someone who is not a US citizen.
“I don’t know the average Division II soccer salary, but I doubt average breaks 50K a year.”
It’s more like $2,000 a month. Maybe less.
I am surprised more incidents like this don’t happen with such low wages.
You’re surprised more pro soccer players don’t break the law because of how poorly they are paid?
Brian Kallman stole my heart once.
and Mr. Gotsmanov has broken your heart repeatedly.
and Mr. Gotsmanov injured himself in the process.
I work at the store that he stole those headphones from.
I seen the surveillance tapes of him ripping it off. I think the other teammates should be held responsible too as there were a few teammates there watching him take it while one of his teammates was buying a cheaper pair. The headphones that he took was a Black detox Beats by dre. Told my manager its a stupid idea to hang those out there.