Republican candidate hoping to unseat Rep. Ilhan Omar charged with felony theft

(Image credit: Facebook/Danielle Stella)

published 26 July 2019

A Republican aiming to unseat Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) with promises of being tough on crime has been charged with felony theft, The Guardian reports.

Danielle Stella, 31, was arrested twice this year after allegedly shoplifting more than 279 items worth at least $2,300 from a Target store in January and $40 worth of products from a grocery store in April. In text messages to The Guardian, Stella said she is "not guilty of these crimes. In this country I am innocent until proven guilty and that is the law. If I was guilty of crimes, I would never run for public office, putting myself in the public eye under a microscope to be attacked by all political sides."

A special education teacher, Stella has appeared on several right-wing websites and radio programs over the last few weeks, espousing her support for President Trump; she is also reportedly a believer in the QAnon conspiracy. After Omar shared information with immigrants on how to avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Stella tweeted that any lawmaker who doesn't "uphold the rule of law" should be kicked out off office, and she also decried Minneapolis as being the "crime capital of our country."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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