Grand jury indicts Taos 5 on federal charges
Arraignment scheduled for today in U.S. District Court
TAOS — A federal grand jury in Albuquerque indicted five defendants in a high-profile Taos County case on federal firearms and conspiracy charges Tuesday, according to a U.S. attorney and an FBI official.
U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson and Special Agent in Charge James C. Langenberg of the FBI’s Albuquerque Division announced that 35-year-old Jany Leveille, a Haitian immigrant living in the U.S. without documentation, was indicted for transporting firearms and ammunition from Georgia to Northern New Mexico in December 2017.
Her husband, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40; his sisters Hujrah Wahhaj, 37 and Subhannah Wahhaj, 35; and Lucas Morton, 40, are accused of aiding and abetting Leveille.
The indictment also alleges the co-defendants established a “training camp and firing range” at a makeshift compound they built near the tiny community of Amalia, where authorities say 11 children were found living in squalid conditions and the remains of a 12th child, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj’s 3-year-old son, were found buried in a tunnel.
The grand jury accuses the defendants of engaging in firearms and tactical training in preparation for “violent attacks on government, military, educational, and financial institutions.”
The five will appear in the U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on Wednesday to be arraigned on the charges and for a detention hearing, which will determine whether they will be held in jail as their cases are prosecuted.
If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum five years in prison.