Terror sting case leads to prison

Sentences vary for three men

When three Palm Beach County men were sentenced Wednesday for their roles in a controversial undercover FBI terrorism sting, a judge ruled that two of them deserved significantly less punishment than prosecutors had suggested.

The case developed a “wobbly wheel” in 2017, one of the defense attorneys said, when it became public knowledge that the main undercover informant in the case, Mohammed Agbareia, had defrauded more than $300,000 from victims — while he was working undercover for the FBI and deeply involved in the terrorism sting.

Though all three defendants eventually pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges, which U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg said were serious offenses, the judge made it clear she was tailoring the punishments she imposed to reflect each man’s varying level of culpability.

The judge also made it clear that she accepted that the men’s true intentions were unclear, even echoing an argument made by one of the defense attorneys, Julie Vianale: “Everyone who commits a ter-

rorism offense is not a terrorist.”

At their sentencings Wednesday, the trio apologized profusely for their crimes but said they had been “stupid,” deluded and going through particularly tough times in their lives that left them vulnerable to getting involved in ill-advised, criminal activities.

One, Gregory Hubbard, was a depressed former U.S. Marine and accomplished artist who was homeless after being scammed out of his life savings. The second, Dayne Antani Christian, is the son of a long-term civilian employee at the U.S. Marshal’s Service. And the third, Darren Jackson, is a former welder who had security clearance to work in nuclear plants across the country. He was trying to care for his elderly dad and had just gone through a divorce with a local attorney.

All three pleaded guilty to charges they conspired to provide material support to the terrorist group ISIS.

The men “shared links for ISIS propaganda videos and websites, including ISIS beheading videos, and lectures by Anwar alAwlaki espousing jihad,” according to court records. All three men practiced firing guns at remote locations in Palm Beach County and were also secretly recorded talking about their support for the terrorist group.

Hubbard, 54, was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in federal prison. Hubbard was the ringleader and he was arrested in 2016 at Miami International Airport, where agents said he planned to travel to Germany and then on to Syria to fight with the terrorist organization.

Christian, aka Shakur, 33, of Lake Park, who pleaded guilty to an additional charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.

The judge imposed a sentence that was two years less than what prosecutors recommended.

Jackson, 52, of Royal Palm Beach, who had let Hubbard move in with him to help take care of his ailing father, was sentenced to just four years in prison – half of what prosecutors had recommended at the start of the day and two years less than their final suggestion.

All three men, who cooperated to varying degrees with the investigation, could have faced 20 years in prison but prosecutors had recommended lesser punishments as part of their plea agreements.