The FBI first learned of Martinez’s radical leanings through his Facebook postings, then had an undercover agent join his plot and supplied him with a fake car bomb, federal officials said.
Antonio Martinez aka Muhammad Hussain
The Baltimore man who plotted to attack an Armed Forces recruiting station because he thought the U.S. was “waging war” against Islam was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison.
Antonio Martinez, a U.S. citizen who converted to Islam and began using the name Muhammad Hussain, had pleaded guilty in January to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against federal property. Martinez admitted he tried to detonate what he thought was a working car bomb at a Catonsville recruiting station in December 2010.
“Mr. Martinez was sentenced today and fully accepted responsibility for his acts,” his lawyer, Maryland Deputy Federal Public Defender Joseph A. Balter said. “He made a statement to the court in which he renounced violence and terrorism.”
The FBI first learned of Martinez’s radical leanings through his Facebook postings, then had an undercover agent join his plot and supplied him with a fake car bomb, federal officials said.
During conversations with a confidental informant and the undercover agent, Martinez “spoke about his anger toward America, his belief that Muslims were being unjustly targeted and killed by the American military and his desire to commit jihad to send a message that American soldiers would be killed unless the country stopped its ‘war’ against Islam,” according to his plea agreement.
[…]
