
High-profile Calgary imam Abdi Hersy is wanted in the United States on outstanding criminal charges connected to two alleged sexual assaults.
The 46-year-old Somali national, who runs the Abu Bakr Mussallah place of worshipin southeast Calgary, was charged after he spent time working as a respiratory therapist in 2006 in the Twin Cities suburb of Woodbury, Minn.
He has refugee protection status in Canada, but the federal government has tried to strip him of it after learning of the active warrant for his arrest south of the border.
The federal Department of Citizenship and Immigration declined comment on the case, citing privacy laws, but in a written statement it said all refugee claimants go through security screening, including fingerprint and criminal background checks.
'They were very devastated'
Two female patients allege Hersy fondled them while they were recovering from medical procedures.
"I remember that they were very devastated," said Det. Jeffrey Zerwas, who investigated the case for the Woodbury police.
He said the first woman came forward in July 2006.
"She struggled with it for a while, and the more she thought about it, she felt she had to say something 'cause she didn't want this to happen to anybody else."
The second woman who came forward said Hersy fondled her under her gown, telling her it was part of a medical procedure, and said he "wanted to have sex with her," according to documents obtained from the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice.
After doing its own investigation, the board pulled Hersy's licence.
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Calgary imam Abdi Hersy wanted in U.S. on sexual assault charges - Calgary - CBC News