EX-CON OUT TO IMPRESS ISIS CHARGED IN TERROR PLOT
ROCHESTER, N.Y.— An ex-con seeking to prove he was worthy of joining the Islamic State group planned to carry out a New Year’s Eve attack at an upstate New York bar using a machete and knives provided by an FBI informant, federal authorities announced Thursday.
Emanuel Lutchman, 25, of Rochester, was charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists, prosecutors said. Officials said he was snared in an FBI sting involving three paid informants.
Lutchman was arrested Wednesday. Steven Slawinski, his federal defender, declined to comment on the charges. Lutchman is a selfprofessed convert to Islam who claimed to receive direction from an overseas Islamic State member and planned to carry out an attack at a bar-restaurant in Rochester on Thursday, authorities wrote in court papers.
According to the FBI, Lutchman and an informant went to a Walmart to buy knives, a machete, ski masks and plastic cable ties for the attack. Lutchman had no money, so the informant paid $40 for the items, according to the complaint filed in federal court in Rochester.
Lutchman was described in court papers as having a criminal history stretching back a decade, including a 2006 robbery conviction that led to a five-year prison stint and arrests for what was described as “mental hygiene” issues.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said officials believe Lutchman became a Muslim while serving his sentence at Attica Correctional Facility in western New York. The plot underscores the threat Islamic State poses “even in upstate New York but demonstrates our determination to immediately stop any who would cause harm in its name,” said U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr.