Authorities charge Calif shooters’ ex-neighbor
New Yorker ‘guilty’ to recruiting for IS
WASHINGTON/ RIVERSIDE, California, Dec 18, (Agencies): A former neighbor accused of supplying assault rifles to the couple who massacred 14 people in San Bernardino, California, appeared in court on Thursday charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.
Enrique Marquez, 24, a friend of Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, who launched the Islamic State-inspired rampage on Dec 2 with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, also told investigators he and Farook plotted earlier mass casualty attacks, prosecutors said.
US Attorney Eileen Decker said the two men conspired to commit “vicious” assaults on targets including a California community college and a state highway during rush hour.
“Even though these plans were not carried out, Mr. Marquez’s criminal conduct deeply affected San Bernardino ... and the entire United States when the guns purchased by Marquez were used to kill 14 innocent people and wound many others,” Decker said in a written statement.
Decker said there was no evidence that Marquez took part in Dec 2 attack or had prior knowledge of it.
Wearing handcuffs and beige T-shirt, Marquez appeared in federal court in Riverside, California for a brief hearing on Thursday. He did not enter a plea.
The possibility of bail will be discussed on Dec. 21, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Jan. 4. Marquez faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted on three separate counts.
According to an FBI affidavit, the two men met in 2005 when Marquez became Farook’s neighbor in Riverside, California.
Farook introduced Marquez to radical Islamist ideology, prosecutors said, and by 2011 Marquez was spending most of his time at Farook’s home listening to lectures and watching videos with extremist content.
Targets
At that point, the pair began planning gun and bomb attacks, the affidavit said, and Marquez told investigators their targets included the library or cafeteria at Riverside Community College, where they had both been students.
He and Farook also planned to detonate pipe bombs on State Route 91 during afternoon rush hour, and then to shoot at law enforcement and emergency crews as they arrived, according to the affidavit.
Prosecutors said the pair bought guns, ammunition and tactical gear, and Marquez told investigators he agreed to purchase the weapons because “his appearance was Caucasian,” while Farook, the US-born son of Pakistani immigrants, “looked Middle Eastern.”
He bought a Smith and Wesson M&P-15 Sport rifle in November 2011 and a DPMS model A-15 rifle in February 2012, each costing about $750, according to the affidavit.
Marquez also purchased explosives, specifically smokeless powder, as part of the pair’s plans “to create bombs and commit mass killings,” the affidavit said.
Early in 2012, the two men continued to prepare by visiting shooting ranges. After that year, prosecutors said, Marquez distanced himself from Farook and ceased plotting with him.
The FBI affidavit provided more details on how investigators believe Farook and his wife’s rampage unfolded.
According to prosecutors, Farook went to his co-workers’ holiday party and placed a bag containing a pipe bomb on a table, before the couple returned and opened fire. It never went off, but a remote control detonator was found in their car after they were killed in a shootout with police.
Meanwhile, a New Yorker who was one of the first recruiters for the Islamic State group captured in the United States pleaded guilty Thursday to attempting to provide material support to the extremists.
Mufid Elfgeeh, 31, faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervised release, with the United States on alert for terror attacks after a mass shooting in California on Dec 2.
He used social media to spread IS group propaganda, declare support for the jihadists and to seek financial contributions to donate to the extremists, as well as to attempt to recruit fighters.
Elfgeeh pleaded guilty “to attempting to provide material support and resources” to the Islamic State group, the US Justice Department said in a statement.
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a 19-year-old has been arrested on charges he attempted to provide support to the Islamic State group.
Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz is charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. He has an initial appearance in federal court on Thursday afternoon.
Federal prosecutors say a backpack in Aziz’s closet contained five loaded high-capacity magazines, a modified kitchen knife, a thumb drive, medication and a balaclava, leading them to suspect he may have been plotting an attack.
Authorities say Aziz used Twitter to advocate violence against US citizens and military members and to disseminate Islamic State propaganda. Court papers say Aziz also tried helping others travel to Syria to fight for the Islamic State.
A message left at Aziz’s home wasn’t immediately returned Thursday.
In San Francisco, a man was charged with trying to join a terrorist group active in Syria after he expressed his love for the head of the group and tried to board a flight to the region, authorities said.
Adam Shafi, 22, pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count of attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, according to court records.
Love
Shafi in telephone calls with friends earlier this year expressed his love for the head of the terrorist group, al-Nusra Front, and said he was content dying with the group, according to an FBI affidavit in the case. The indictment against Shafi was unsealed on Thursday.
Authorities were alerted to Shafi after his father reported him missing in August 2014 to the US Embassy in Cairo during a family trip to Egypt and said his son may have been following extremist Islamic leaders online, according to the affidavit by FBI Special Agent Christopher Monika.
In another development, a Kansas man accused of plotting a suicide car bombing at a US Army base in support of the Islamic State militant group intends to change his not guilty plea, according to a court filing on Thursday.
John T. Booker Jr notified the court on Wednesday he intends to change his plea, according to the US District Court in Topeka, Kansas.
A hearing on Booker’s request was set for Jan 12 before US District Judge Carlos Murguia in Kansas City. An attorney for Booker could not be reached immediately for comment.
According to prosecutors, Booker, who is also known as Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, had arrived at Fort Riley near Manhattan, Kansas, with FBI informants to detonate what the Topeka resident did not realize was an inert bomb.
He had signed up for the US Army in February 2014 and was due to report to basic training in April 2014.
Yet in related news, a Yemenborn pizza shop owner in New York State admitted Thursday he tried to recruit fighters for the Islamic State group in Syria.
A Yemen-born pizza shop owner in New York State admitted Thursday he tried to recruit fighters for the Islamic State group in Syria.
Mufid Elfgeeh, 31, a naturalized US citizen, helped arrange travel and funding and put one recruit in touch with an English-speaking Islamic State contact in Iraq via Facebook, authorities said.
Elfgeeh pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization under a plea agreement that recommends a sentence of just under 22-ó years in prison.
He was arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in May 2014 after buying two handguns and silencers that investigators say he planned to use to kill returning US soldiers. US Attorney William Hochul Jr said Elfgeeh was one of the first Islamic State recruiters ever arrested in the United States.
“Elfgeeh wanted to be a source of support for violent jihad and serve as a facilitator for violent jihadists who wanted to travel overseas and fight,” the plea agreement said. “In Elfgeeh’s own postings and messages on social media and statements ... Elfgeeh stated that a person who helps or sponsors a fighter to engage in violent jihad obtains the same religious rewards from Allah (God) as the fighter himself.”
Under the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a charge of attempting to kill military members and weapons counts, as well as charges of assaulting three sheriff’s deputies while in custody.
Sentencing was scheduled March 17.
While running his Rochester pizza shop, Elfgeeh used Twitter, WhatsApp and 23 Facebook accounts to seek donations and declare his support for violent jihad and allegiance to the Islamic State and its leaders, court documents said.
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