Man who plotted to bomb Florida Keys gets life in prison

MIAMI — A judge imposed a life prison sentence Tuesday on a man convicted of plotting with an FBI informant to set off a nail-filled backpack bomb on a Florida Keys beach in solidarity with the Islamic State group.

The attorney for Harlem Suarez had sought a more lenient sentence, but U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez agreed with prosecutors that the plot deserved the maximum. Suarez, 25, was convicted by a Key West jury in January of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and providing material support to a terrorist organization.

Suarez got a life sentence on the weapon of mass destruction charge and 20 years on the material support conviction.

According to trial evidence, Suarez began posting Facebook messages in April 2015 expressing allegiance to the Islamic State and seeking to recruit new followers for the extremist group. He also researched bomb-making instructions. These online actions led the FBI to have informants make contact with Suarez, even though there is no evidence the Cuban-American man had actual Islamic State connections.

Still, Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gilbert said in court papers that Suarez posted proIslamic State videos online and bought a number of weapons, including two handguns, magazines, bulletproof vests, an AR15 rifle and had attempted to buy an AK-47 assault weapon. The plot to set off the bomb on a Key West beach developed in conversations with the FBI informants, evidence showed.

Testimony also showed Suarez believed the backpack bomb would contain galvanized nails and could be detonated remotely with a cellphone. The informant said he could get the explosive material to add to those ingredients.

Suarez was arrested in July 2015 after accepting an inert explosive from an FBI employee posing as an Islamic State extremist.