Two N.J. terror suspects plead guilty

March 04, 2011|Associated Press

NEWARK — Two New Jersey men pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that they tried to join an Al Qaeda-affiliated group overseas.

Mohamed Alessa and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, known as Omar, entered into a packaged plea deal in a Newark federal courtroom. They each pleaded guilty to a count charging them with conspiring within the United States to murder individuals outside the country by trying to join Al Shabab, a designated terrorist organization.

The two were arrested in June at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport as they prepared to board separate planes to Egypt. From there, the men admitted yesterday, they had planned to travel to Somalia to seek terror training from Al Qaeda-affiliated jihadists. The men had no contact with Somali terrorists but hoped they would be accepted by a terrorist group, according to officials and court documents.

Alessa, 21, of North Bergen, was born in the United States and is the son of Palestinian immigrants. Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park, is a naturalized citizen who was born in the Dominican Republic. Both are Muslim.

The charge each pleaded to could carry up to life in prison, but they face 15 to 30 years under the terms of the plea agreement.

Sentencing is up to the discretion of the judge, and will probably take place this summer.

School officials, law enforcement authorities, and court records have painted a picture of the two as trouble-prone young men.

Officials at several northern New Jersey schools described Alessa as a disruptive and violent youth. Almonte’s criminal record includes arrests for aggravated assault and weapons possession.