A federal judge in Minnesota sentenced Raleek Young to five years in prison for setting fire to a U.S. Post Office during the May 2020 riots that swept Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd. Young, the brother of late NFL player Vince Young, torched the building on East 36th Street, just blocks from where Floyd died in police custody.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz handed down the 60-month sentence on Tuesday in Minneapolis federal court, Courthouse News reported. The sentence fell below the seven-year term federal prosecutors had requested but above the 41 months Young's defense team sought. Young pleaded guilty in November 2024 to one count of arson of a building used in interstate commerce.
The Minnehaha Post Office at 3033 East 36th Street was destroyed during the unrest that erupted on May 27 and 28, 2020. Surveillance footage and witness accounts captured Young entering the building and igniting fires that consumed the structure. The post office served a residential neighborhood and had operated as a hub for mail delivery and small business shipping in the area for years.
Federal investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives identified Young through a combination of surveillance video, cell phone location data, and social media posts. Prosecutors said Young recorded himself near the scene and posted content to social media during the riots. The investigation took more than four years before Young was charged in 2024.
The destruction of the post office displaced mail service for thousands of residents in the surrounding ZIP code. The U.S. Postal Service was forced to reroute deliveries and set up temporary collection points while the site was cleared. Rebuilding has been a slow process, and the community went years without a fully restored facility.
Federal prosecutors argued that Young deserved 84 months behind bars, emphasizing the severity of destroying a federal building and the broader harm the arson caused to the community. In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors highlighted that the post office was not a symbol of the grievance that sparked the unrest but a public service facility that residents depended on daily.
The government's filing noted that arson during civil disorder carries particular weight under federal sentencing guidelines because it endangers lives and destabilizes neighborhoods already under stress. Prosecutors pointed out that firefighters were unable to respond effectively to many blazes during the riots due to the volume of simultaneous fires and threats to their own safety.
Young's defense attorneys asked for 41 months, arguing that their client was swept up in a chaotic moment and did not have a significant prior criminal record. The defense emphasized Young's personal background, including the loss of his brother Vince Young, the former University of Texas and Tennessee Titans quarterback who died in February 2024. Vince Young, who led Texas to a national championship in the 2006 Rose Bowl, was 41 at the time of his death.
Judge Schiltz settled on 60 months, a sentence that acknowledged the seriousness of the crime while stopping short of the prosecution's request. The judge noted during the hearing that burning a federal building is not protest but a federal felony, and that the community bore the cost of Young's actions long after the fires went out.
In addition to the prison term, Young will serve three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution, though the final amount will be determined in a separate proceeding. The Postal Service has estimated the cost of rebuilding and service disruption in the millions of dollars.
Young is one of more than 20 individuals federally charged in connection with arsons during the Minneapolis riots. Several others have received sentences ranging from probation to more than four years in prison, depending on the severity of the destruction and their level of involvement.
The four-year gap between the arson and the guilty plea underscores how slowly federal arson investigations can move, particularly when they involve large-scale civil unrest with dozens of simultaneous crime scenes. ATF agents worked through hundreds of hours of surveillance footage and thousands of social media posts to build cases against individual defendants.
Federal authorities have made clear that the statute of limitations on arson gives them a long runway to bring charges. Several other cases tied to the 2020 Minneapolis unrest remain open, and investigators have said publicly that additional charges are possible as evidence continues to be processed.
The Minnehaha Post Office case stands as one of the more visible prosecutions from the 2020 riots because of Young's family connection to professional football. Vince Young's NFL career, which spanned six seasons and included a Pro Bowl selection and the iconic 2006 championship run, made the case a magnet for media attention when charges were filed.
The five-year term sends a straightforward message from the federal bench: destroying public infrastructure during unrest carries real prison time, regardless of the political moment that surrounded it. Judge Schiltz's comments at sentencing drew a hard line between lawful demonstration and criminal destruction.
Young must report to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence. The date for surrender has not yet been set publicly. His supervised release conditions will include standard federal terms, and any restitution order will follow once the Postal Service finalizes its damage accounting.
Five years after rioters turned Minneapolis into a burn zone, federal prosecutors are still closing cases. The wheels of justice may grind slowly, but for those who mistook chaos for cover, the bill eventually comes due.
