Terrorism suspect charged with Trump threats
Pitts now faces up to 46 years in federal prison if convicted.
Federal prosecutors CLEVELAND — filed more charges against a man accused of concocting a terrorist plot against Fourth of July fireworks watchers in downtown Cleveland.
The grand jury issued the five-count indictment against Demetrius Pitts on Tuesday, one day after a federal judge refused to take Pitts’ plea. The indictment includes charges related to threats the FBI said Pitts made against President Donald Trump and his family.
He was previously charged with attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida. His charges now encompass the threats he is accused of making and two counts of lying to the FBI.
Pitts, 49, was arrested July 1 after he corresponded with an undercover agent about an attack and scoped out an area to park a van full of explosives near Voinovich Park on Independence Day, the FBI said.
He agreed to enter a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and admit to the attempting to provide material support charge during a hearing on Monday. However, when U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. asked Pitts whether he committed a crime in support of al-Qaida, Pitts characterized his actions by saying he just “went downtown and took pictures.”
Pitts, who acknowledged he received treatment for anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and takes medication for his mental health, also said the person he talked to while in Cleveland never mentioned al-Qaida. Instead, the person only talked about being a “Muslim brother,” Pitts said.
The judge said he wouldn’t accept the plea of someone who adamantly denied committing a crime as described in an indictment.
Instead of facing a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, Pitts now faces up to 46 years. His arraignment is set for Feb. 19 and he remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
The new charges stem from his meeting with an undercover agent in Willoughby on June 15, two weeks before his arrest. He said that he wanted to cut off Trump’s head and hands and to kill Trump’s children and son-in-law, according to the indictment.
He lied during an interview with the FBI on July 1 when he said he was not aware of any impending terrorist attack in Cleveland and that he never discussed acts with someone he thought was an al-Qaida operative, the new indictment states.
The statements the FBI said Pitts, who also goes by Abdur Raheem Rafeeq and Salahadeen Osama Waleed, made about violent attacks or an allegiance to al-Qaida were mostly to agents or confidential informants, according to court filings. An informant gave Pitts a bus pass to travel downtown and scope out potential targets, as well as a cellphone he later used to text an undercover agent, authorities said.