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South Jersey man held in al-Qaida sweep
Sharif Mobley (shown in 2002), who was raised in Buena in Atlantic County, is under arrest in Yemen. He suspected of being an al-Qaida member and is accused of killing a guard in an attempt to break out of a hospital. (Associated Press)
BY JOEL LANDAU • GANNETT NEW JERSEY • MARCH 12, 2010
BUENA — A South Jersey man is being held in Yemen as an alleged terrorist and killer.
And some who know the suspect -- Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old Somali-born U.S. citizen -- say they're not shocked.
"It's something you never thought would happen, but when you hear the news, you're not completely surprised," said Roman Castro of his former high school chum.
Mobley is accused of involvement with al-Qaida and in the killing of a hospital security guard during an escape attempt.
Mobley's father said his son isn't an al-Qaida operative.
"I can tell you this: He's no terrorist," Charles Mobley said Thursday morning as he drove to see a lawyer.
But Castro, who graduated from Buena Regional High School with Mobley in 2002, said his classmate changed dramatically after making a religious pilgrimage in 2004. Mobley traveled to Mecca, Saudi Arabia -- a journey called the hajj that is required of all Muslims at least once in their lifetime.
"After he took his hajj, he was a completely different person," Castro said.
Castro said he and Mobley, a former laborer at nuclear plants, connected in their youth because both were minorities in rural Atlantic County.
"We lived mostly with Caucasian farmers. I'm Hispanic, and he was one of the few black kids in the school," Castro said, adding Mobley's religion was always important to him. "He was very defensive of his faith. He would be abrasive if people questioned it."
Their friendship ended in 2004 when Castro returned from a tour in Iraq with the Army. He said Mobley rejected his tight-knit group of friends from high school, who all had joined the military after graduation.
"He didn't have any friends in 2004. He became so involved in being a Muslim," Castro said. "He said, "You guys are Muslim killers. You killed my people.' "
In 2006, Castro heard Mobley had worked in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen to help other Muslims take their hajj. He said Mobley still would visit his home in Landisville, and also lived in Delaware and Philadelphia.
Mobley got married and has a daughter who's now 5 years old, said Castro, who did not know the marriage's current status.
Castro said Mobley never told him he would carry out any acts of terrorism.
"Some of the people who knew him would joke it could happen," he said. But "we never thought it would."
Arrested
Mobley was among 11 suspected al-Qaida members arrested in Yemen in a roundup earlier this month, said Mohammed Albasha, spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington.
He was being treated over the weekend at a hospital in the country's capital, Sana'a, when he got into a shootout with guards during an escape attempt.
Mobley killed one guard and wounded another, authorities said. The arrests were the latest in a string of Yemeni counterterrorism efforts aimed at disrupting al-Qaida.
An FBI spokesman on Thursday said the agency is involved in Mobley's case, but declined to give any details.
The al-Qaida branch in Yemen has been linked to the failed Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner. Also, Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people last year in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, had exchanged e-mails with an extremist cleric in Yemen.
The Pentagon has proposed spending $150 million to help Yemen battle insurgents within its borders.
Somali-Americans have become a particular concern to American security officials. Young Somali-American men have been traveling from the U.S. to fight jihad in Somalia, raising fears they are receiving terror training and returning to the U.S. ready to launch attacks.
Moving to Yemen
Imam Abdel-Hadi Shehata, of the Islamic Society of Delaware, said Mobley used to live in the same apartment complex as him in Newark, Del, and occasionally prayed at his mosque.
Mobley moved to Yemen two years ago to study Arabic and Islam, according to Shehata. By Thursday, the family's neighborhood on Plymouth Street was besieged with reporters from newspapers and TV stations. News vans lined the street leading to the Mobleys' home through much of the day and reporters, photographers and camera crews staked out the house.
The neatly kept home with a white-rail porch and attached two-car garage sits at the T-intersection of Plymouth Street and Summer Avenue.
No one at the home answered the door or returned phone calls seeking comment.
Mike Ricci, who lives down the street from the home, was surprised to hear of the arrest.
"I wouldn't think he would be a person like that - his demeanor. He kept to himself," Ricci said.
Minotola resident Michael Brothman graduated the same year as Mobley and remembers his obsession with karate.
Mobley earned a black belt in karate. Brothman and others would spar with Mobley "in gym class and (when he) couldn't beat us, he'd say his chi was in the wrong place. His center of strength was missing," Brothman said. Mobley "was very outspoken and friendly. I never expected him to be a terrorist."
"Full of energy'
Doug Castellari was Mobley's high school wrestling coach for three years. "He was full of energy," Castellari said. "I have nothing bad to say about him."
The coach said he saw Mobley at a football game at the school three or four years ago, and Mobley said he was trying to get into his father's union in Philadelphia. The coach said he believed his father was involved in construction.
The team was aware of Mobley's religion and it was never an issue, Castellari said.
"I knew he was Muslim," he said. "During Ramadan, he would wait until after practice to eat so he could fast during the day."
Joe Delmar, a spokesman for PSE&G Nuclear, said Mobley worked as a laborer for several contractors at the firm's three nuclear plants in Lower Alloways Creek, Salem County.
He worked there from 2002 to 2008, carrying supplies and doing maintenance work, Delmar said.
Delmar, who noted Mobley satisfied federal background checks as recently as 2008, said he also worked at other plants in the region.
Buena police Lt. Dave Sherma said the FBI has briefed the borough on all matters related to public safety. "We continue to be vigilant to ensure the safety of the residents of the community," he said.
Sherma said the department cannot comment on the federal investigation. But he said Mobley, whose family also uses the last name Beyah, was never arrested locally.
Sherma said the family has never been the subject of more than routine police service calls.
Mayor Joseph Baruffi said: "This is unfortunate, but I believe this has no reflection of what I believe to be a nice, small-town community."
Area residents were stunned Thursday to hear one of their own was suspected of being a terrorist.
"Anytime somebody is involved in that it surprises you," Estell Manor resident Debbie Young said. "When it's a local, all of a sudden it hits home."
Staff writers Joseph P. Smith, Charles J. Olson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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