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Sep 24, 2009 6:28 pm US/Central
Man Charged In Ill. Courthouse Plot
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) ―
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Michael C. Finton, shown here on his MySpace blog account, was arrested Sept. 24, 2009, in connection to what police claim was a bombing plot involving the Springfield Federal Building in Illinois.
CBS
A 29-year-old Illinois man who idolized American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh has been arrested after attempting to detonate what he thought was a bomb inside a van outside a federal courthouse, officials said Thursday.
Michael C. Finton, also known as Talib Islam, was arrested Wednesday and charged in a criminal complaint with one count of attempting to murder federal officers or employees and trying to detonate a weapon of mass destruction. Federal officials said the case has no connections with the major terrorism investigation under way in Colorado and New York.
"This alleged plot drives home the stark reality that we must avoid complacency and remain ever vigilant to the threats that violent extremists may pose to the public safety," Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey B. Lang said.
Finton appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron G. Cudmore in Springfield and said he was an unmarried, part-time cook at a fish and chicken restaurant in the central Illinois city of Decatur. He was ordered held in jail pending action by a grand jury.
A message was left at the office of Finton's defense attorney, Robert Scherschlight, a federal defender.
An FBI affidavit said that in the months leading up to the arrest, Finton had been closely monitored by agents including a special officer who posed as a low-level operative of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network.
It said Finton was arrested after using a cell phone in an attempt to detonate a van filled with material that he had been told was explosive but was actually harmless. It was not immediately clear what the material was.
The affidavit traced two years of activities by Finton leading up to the alleged bomb plot and arrest. It said Finton's parole on a previous conviction was revoked in August 2007 and writings found afterward included a letter to Lindh, who was captured fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Finton told agents in January 2008 he idolized Lindh, the affidavit said. It was not immediately known what his previous conviction was.
After he was released from prison in 2008, Finton allegedly received money from someone in Saudi Arabia, CBS station WBBM reports. The FBI said he used the money to travel to Saudi Arabia in April 2008 and returned to the U.S. in May 2008.
Finton was introduced to the FBI special officer posing as an al Qaeda operative in February, according to the affidavit.
Finton expressed a desire to receive military training and fight in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia or elsewhere, agents said. In the months that followed, he talked about an attack within the United States and ultimately settled on the Paul Findley courthouse.
He also allegedly took an interest in the nearby office of Republican U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock as well, the affidavit said.
The maximum penalty for attempted murder of federal officers and detonation of a weapon of mass destruction is life in prison.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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