MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis have moved to drop felony assault charges against two Venezuelan men, including one shot in the leg by a immigration officer, after new evidence emerged undercutting the government's version of events.
In a filing Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said “newly discovered evidence” in the criminal case against Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis “is materially inconsistent with the allegations against them” made in a criminal complaint and a court hearing last month.
The government's motion asked the judge for “dismissal with prejudice,” meaning the charges against the two men cannot be resubmitted.
The pending dismissal comes after a string of high-profile shootings involving federal immigration agents where eyewitness statements and video evidence called into question claims made to justify using deadly force. Dozens of felony cases against protestors accused of assaulting or impeding federal officers have also crumbled.
The case at issue in Thursday's filing stemmed from a Jan. 14 incident during which an FBI investigator said in an affidavit that U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Aljorna, who crashed and fled on foot toward an apartment complex. As an immigration officer chased and tried to arrest him, the government claimed Aljorna began to violently resist.
As the officer and Aljorna struggled on the ground, Sosa-Celis and another man came out of a nearby apartment and attacked the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle, according to the complaint. The officer, who was not named in court filings, then fired his handgun, striking Sosa-Celis in the upper right thigh. The men then fled into a nearby apartment, where they were later arrested.
The day after the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem used the incident to attack Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, accusing the Democrats of “encouraging impeding and assault against our law enforcement which is a federal crime, a felony.”
“What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of federal law enforcement," Noem said in a Jan. 15 statement. “Our officer was ambushed and attacked by three individuals who beat him with snow shovels and the handles of brooms. Fearing for his life, the officer fired a defensive shot.”
Thursday's one-page motion seeking to dismiss the charges did not detail what new evidence had emerged, but cracks began to appear in the government's case during a Jan. 21 court hearing to determine whether the accused men could be released pending trial.
In court, the ICE officer's account of the moments before the shooting differed significantly from testimony from the two defendants and three other eyewitnesses. The ICE officer’s account of being assaulted with a broom and snow shovel was also not corroborated by the available video evidence.
Aljorna and Sosa-Celis denied assaulting the agent with a broom or snow shovel. Neither video evidence nor testimony from a neighbor and the two men’s romantic partners supported the agent’s account that he had been attacked with a broom or shovel or that there had been a third person involved.
Aljorna’s attorney Frederick Goetz said Aljorna had a broomstick in his hand and had thrown it at the agent as he ran towards the house. Sosa-Celis’ attorney Robin Wolpert said he had been holding a shovel but was retreating into the home when the officer fired, wounding him. The men’s attorneys said that the entirety of the prosecution’s case relied on testimony from the agent who fired the gun.
Neither Aljorna and Sosa-Celis had violent criminal records. Both had been working as DoorDash delivery drivers at night in an attempt to avoid encounters with federal agents, their attorneys said.
After Aljorna and Sosa-Celis retreated into a nearby home, they and their families barricaded the upstairs door to prevent federal agents from entering, according to the FBI agent. Federal officers then used tear gas to try to force the family out of their home, he added. Out of concern for the safety of two children inside the home — both under the age of 2 — Aljorna and Sosa-Celis then turned themselves over to authorities.
Biesecker reported from Washington.
FILE - U.S. Border Patrol officers walk along a street in Minneapolis, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Gray,File)
PAHRUMP, Nev. (AP) — Nevada is the only state where people can legally purchase sex, and now sex workers at one of the state's oldest brothels are fighting to become the nation's first to be unionized.
“We want the same things that any other worker wants. We want a safe and respectful workplace,” said a worker at Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada, who goes by the stage name Jupiter Jetson and asked that her legal name not be used for fear of harassment.
Prostitution is legal at licensed brothels in 10 of Nevada's rural counties. That doesn't include Clark County, home to Las Vegas, though Sheri’s Ranch is about an hour's drive away. The majority of the brothel's 74 sex workers submitted a petition to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board last week under the name United Brothel Workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America.
Jetson said the drive was spurred by a new independent contractor agreement issued in December that would give the brothel power to use the women's likeness without permission, even if they no longer work there.
“This is how you end up the face of a Japanese lubricant company without ever having signed a document," Jetson said. “This is how you end up finding yourself on a website offering AI companionship without ever seeing a penny.”
Sex work, and the employment rights of the those who do it, remains a largely taboo topic worldwide. Prostitution is only legal in a handful of countries, including Germany, and organizing efforts vary. In Spain, where prostitution is unregulated, the government approved a union for sex workers in 2018 but a court quickly outlawed it, saying it made the exploitation of prostitutes legal.
“All workers are guaranteed certain human decencies and dignities, and the right to organize is one of those,” said Marc Ellis, state president of the Nevada Communications Workers of America.
Sheri’s Ranch respects the right of workers to “express their views on workplace structure,” Jeremy Lemur, the brothel’s marketing and communications director, said in an email. The business's focus is on providing a “safe, lawful and professionally managed environment."
The process could go back and forth for weeks, but the brothel could choose to recognize the Communications Workers of America as the sex workers’ representatives and begin negotiating a new contract immediately, according to union attorneys.
The workers at Sheri's Ranch, who call themselves courtesans, were given a new contract in December that would give the brothel control over their intellectual property and power of attorney. The contract, viewed by The Associated Press, said the brothel will have the “irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive license” to distribute the women's material.
Another worker, who goes by the stage name Molly Wylder, said the terms would make it harder for courtesans to leave the industry and pursue other opportunities. For Wylder, sex work is a temporary job to help pay for her student loans. Like Jetson, she asked that her legal name not be used.
“It was never my plan to stay forever,” Wylder said.
When the women brought their concerns to management, they were told to sign or leave, they said. The women requested more time to decide, while some signed under duress, Jetson said. The dispute remains ongoing. Lemur did not respond to questions about the women's concerns.
Jetson said she and two others were fired after the brothel learned about the unionization effort. The Communications Workers of America is fighting for them to be rehired. Lemur did not respond to questions about Jetson's employment.
Sex workers are typically classified as independent contractors, said Barb Brents, an expert in Nevada’s sex industry and retired professor at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Independent contractors do not get as many legal protections as employees, but they usually get more freedoms. The success of their unionization could come down to a debate between whether they are considered independent contractors or employees.
The independent contractor status is fundamental to the workers' autonomy, said Lemur.
But the women argue they are treated as employees. They have set schedules, they can't work from home and they are required to charge a minimum of $1,000 per hour to their clients, Ellis said. Sheri's Ranch gets 50% of what they earn.
“In our dream scenario, we would like to be recognized as employees because we would like the full rights and bargaining power that employees have,” Jetson said.
With many of the women making their own online content, they want their intellectual property protected. They also said they want to negotiate over their dress code — they were recently told they can only wear denim shorts, not pants — and they'd like to see a fairer wage contract.
Wylder said she'd also like to negotiate for health insurance, which they are not provided.
Other workers in the sex industry have seen success. In Los Angeles, dancers at the topless bar Star Garden became the only unionized group of strippers in the U.S. The Lusty Lady, a San Francisco strip club, was pioneering when its workers unionized in 1997, though it's now closed.
Brents said the Sheri Ranch courtesans’ effort is significant in a stigmatized industry in which its workers historically lay low and stay quiet.
This story has been corrected to show that the worker’s stage name is Molly Wylder, not Wilder.
A sign welcomes visitors to Sheri's Ranch, a brothel, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Pahrump, Nev. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
A sex worker, who goes by the name Molly Wilder, poses for a photo in front of Sheri's Ranch, a brothel In Pahrump, Nev. on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
A sex worker, who goes by the name Jupiter Jetson, poses for a photo in front of Sheri's Ranch, a brothel In Pahrump, Nev. on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
A sex worker, who goes by the name Jupiter Jetson, wears a Communications Workers of America, the union representing the workers at Sheri's Ranch, a brothel, in Pahrump, Nev. on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
Sheri's Ranch, a brothel, is shown on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Pahrump, Nev. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
