AUBURN – A former General Assistance caseworker for the city chose not to fight charges that he used his position of power to solicit sex from a local woman.
Abdiaziz Ali, 35, pleaded no contest Friday to a charge of official oppression. He was charged $250, which he agreed to pay by the end of the day.
“Mr. Ali certainly had an opportunity to go to trial,” said his lawyer, Bill Cote, after the hearing in Androscoggin County Superior Court. “But he simply wants to move on. He wants the city to move on and he wants the Somali community to move on.”
Once touted by city officials as a leader of the local immigrant community, Ali was charged last August with engaging in prostitution and official oppression for allegedly pressuring a local woman to have sex with him by promising her reduced rent.
The district attorney’s office agreed Friday to dismiss the prostitution charge and lower the official oppression charge from Class D to Class E in exchange for Ali’s plea.
Official oppression is a charge that targets public servants accused of committing illegal acts by using the power of their office. Class E is the lowest level of severity for the charge.
Describing the ordeal as being blown out of proportion, Cote said the prosecutor’s decision to drop one charge and lower another reflects the minor nature of the conduct and the lack of strength in the state’s case.
Contesting the charges would likely have required city officials and others who had worked closely with Ali to testify at a trial.
“He did not want to put the city of Lewiston through that inconvenience,” Cote said.
One of the first Somalis to arrive in Lewiston in 2001, Ali quickly established himself as a leader of the community. Within months of his arrival, city officials hired him as an interpreter and caseworker.
His job was to help the city’s new immigrants with their basic needs: housing, food, employment, language translation, medical assistance and school registration for their children.
He was charged last summer after detectives recorded conversations between him and the woman he propositioned, police said.
City officials placed Ali on paid administrative leave after he was charged. About a month later, Ali resigned from his post, saying it was the best thing for Lewiston’s immigrant population.
Cote described Ali as a bright and talented man who will continue to make contributions to the local Somali community.
“The last thing he wanted to do in any way was to endanger the standing of the Somalis in this community,” Cote said.
Ali declined to comment after his hearing.
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