2 plead guilty in terrorist plot case
The members of a radical prison-based cell admit to charges of waging war against the U.S. Documents detailing their attack plans are revealed.
Two members of a prison-based Islamic terrorist cell that was poised to attack military sites, synagogues and other targets across Southern California pleaded guilty in federal court today to conspiring to wage war against the United States.
Kevin James and Levar Washington, members of the homegrown radical Islamic organization dubbed JIS, entered guilty pleas in front of U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney in federal court in Santa Ana.
James, who founded the group while in state prison in 1997, recruited Washington years later when they were both prisoners at New Folsom Prison. Following his release in 2004, Washington recruited a third member, Gregory Patterson, with whom he committed a string of gas station robberies to fund the group's planned attacks, authorities said.
As the defendants entered their pleas, prosecutors made public several JIS documents detailing the group's operations. One handwritten paper, titled "Modes of Attack," includes a list of National Guard facilities, Army recruiting centers and something referred to as the "camp site of Zion." Another two-page document, labeled "Blueprint 2005," set out eight tasks to be accomplished in furtherance of the plot.
"We will need bombs that can be activated from a distance," one entry read. "Acquire two weapons (pistols) with silencers," read another.
The plot was uncovered after Torrance police linked two JIS members to a gas station robbery and discovered Jihadist documents in the South Los Angeles apartment where they were living.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said the case is a chilling example of law enforcement thwarting a terrorist plot at the eleventh hour.
"These homegrown terrorists had raised the money, recruited the people, chosen the targets, obtained the weapons and set the date," Mueller said in a prepared statement. "All they had left to do was strike."
James faces 20 years in prison. Washington, who also pleaded guilty to using a gun during the plot faces 25 years. Patterson is expected to plead guilty on Monday.
scott.glover@latimes.com
