3
Charges Include Conspiracy To Kill Members Of U.S. Military, Foreign Officials
SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A Pakistani man accused of plotting a terrorist campaign in the Southland -- using gas station holdups to fund the attacks -- pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Santa Ana to conspiracy-related charges.
Hammad Samana, 21 -- who has permanent-resident status -- denied charges of conspiracy to levy war against the U.S. government through terrorism; conspiracy to kill members of the U.S. military; conspiracy to kill foreign officials and conspiracy to use firearms in a crime of violence.
U.S. District Magistrate Judge Arthur Nakazato set a trial date of Sept. 27 and a status conference of Sept. 19. He assigned the case to U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney.
According to a federal grand jury indictment, Samana plotted with Kevin James, the founder of a group called Jamiyyat
Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh -- or
JIS -- and two other Southland men, Levar Washington and Gregory Patterson.
U.S. authorities allege the defendants intended to use money taken in holdups in Los Angeles and Orange counties to buy weapons and make other purchases needed to carry out attacks on local National Guard and Israeli facilities, according to court papers.
Samana is accused of participating in two of the 11 gas station robberies listed in a six-count federal grand jury indictment: a robbery on June 12 in Playa Del Rey -- in which Patterson was allegedly armed with a shotgun -- and a robbery on June 21 in the city of Orange.
Patterson and Washington were arrested July 5 after allegedly using shotgun to rob a Chevron gas station in Fullerton.
Four people who were in court during the arraignment of Samana, who is being held without bail, declined to comment outside the courtroom.
Defense attorney Timothy Lannen issued a statement about his client outside the courtroom an
d re
fuse
d to take questions.
"He is a pea
ce-loving, respectful young man," Lannen said.
Samana is on the dean's list at Santa Monica College, Lannen said, and "when arrested was working two jobs to support his family."
In response to the attorney's description of Samana, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Smith said the lawyer "is free to characterize his client any way he wished.
In "plain terms," Smith said, Samana is accused of "conspiring to kill" U.S. military personnel, Israel officials and Jewish people at targeted synagogues.
Smith said he expects Patterson and Washington to appear for arraignment on Sept. 12. They are being held in the Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles, while James is set for arraignment on Sept. 26. He is being held in state prison.
Smith declined to provide additional details not specifically mentioned in the indictment, but did say that "We have charged everyone that could or
should
be charg
ed based on the evidence."
In November, James, while in prison, allegedly recruited Washington, who was ser
ving a robbery sentence, to join JIS, according to the indictment.
After Washington was paroled from a state prison late that month, James told him to recruit five individuals without felony convictions and "train them in covert operations," prosecutors allege.
Washington allegedly recruited Samana and Patterson, fellow attendees of the Jamat-E-Masijidul Islam mosque in Inglewood. At some point, Washington allegedly "reaffirmed his allegiance ... by pledging his loyalty until death by martyrdom."
According to authorities, Samana is the only one of the four not born in the United States.
Before the arrests, the defendants had been "on the verge of launching the attacks," which "had the potential to cause significant bloodshed," U.S. Attorney Debra Yang said in a news conference last week.
James, 2
9, preached
that member
s of his group had a duty to "target for violent attack any enemies of Islam, or `infidels,"' including the U.S. government and supporters of Israel, the indictment sta
tes.
Samana and Patterson allegedly used the Internet to research the locations of military recruitment offices, Jewish events in the months of July and August and research on the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, including the identity of specific Israeli officials.
James will remain in state prison, serving a sentence for being a prisoner in possession of a weapon, until transferred to federal custody, Smith said.
James, who was originally incarcerated for attempted robbery, allegedly founded JIS while behind bars in 1997. If convicted of all the charges, the defendants face life prison sentences.
Authorities say the investigation began slightly more than eight weeks ago when Torrance police received a tip concerning a string of gas station robberies in Los Angeles and O
range counties.
After ta
iling Washington, 25, and Patterson, 21, for two days, Torrance officers allegedly saw them rob a gas station in Fullerton.
Police then arrested the pair and searched a South Los Angeles ap
artment they shared. That search turned up materials that led police to believe the men might be plotting attacks, said Torrance police Chief James Herren.
According to the indictment, the synagogue attacks were planned to coincide with the Jewish high holy days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur "in order to maximize the number of casualties to be inflicted."
The 10-day high-holyday period starts Oct. 3, the first day of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and ends Oct. 12 on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is regarded as the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
Authorities said they believed some targets would have been attacked soon if the arrests had not taken place.
Authorities are not aware of any current threat based on what was lea
rned during the inv
estigation, said Ran
dy Parsons, acting assistant head of the FBI's Los Angeles office.
Images from link
http://images.ibsys.com/200
5/0818/4865506_400X300.jpg
Detectives searching Washington's apartment on West 27th Street
in Los Angeles found bulletproof vests, "jihadist" materials, and the
addresses of such locations as National Guard facilities, two
synagogues, the Israeli Consulate and the El Al Israel Airlines ticket
counter at LAX, The Times reported.
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