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Pimentel is charged with making bombs to target post offices, police stations, and service men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He was later arraigned at 100 Centre Street on five felony counts including the top charge of criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree as a crime of terrorism. Judge Abraham Clott ordered him held without bail.
“This is just another case where precautions paid off,” said Bloomberg, who added that 1000 NYPD officers are assigned to counter-terrorism duties daily. The foiled plot would have been the fourteenth targeting NYC since 9/11, said the mayor, who described Pimentel, 27, as a “lone wolf” unaffiliated with any larger conspiracy emanating from abroad.
Kelly said that the NYPD had been keeping track of Pimentel, a.k.a. Muhammad Yusuf, since May 2009. “We had always planned to take him into custody,” said Kelly of Pimentel, a Dominican-born U.S. citizen, Al-Qaeda sympathizer, and convert to Islam, who Kelly said was “set-off” to intensify his criminal efforts by the Sept. 30 killing of radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen by U.S. forces.
Kelly also said that Pimentel tried unsuccessfully to establish contact with al-Awlaki, and was interested in going to Yemen for jihadist training. Kelly said that while “the FBI is fully informed of the case, [the NYPD] had to act quickly.” Authorities said Pimentel was one hour away from completing a bomb, that included nails meant to maximize civilian casualties.
District Attorney Vance who said that the defendant “stated his belief in violent jihad,” said his office would follow the rule of law aggressively and responsibly. The question was raised about the case being tried in state rather than federal court. One advantage of a state prosecution is that the law allows a conspiracy charge for a single defendant working with an informant.
A disheveled Pimentel entered his arraignment on Sunday night wearing a black t-shirt and baggy sweatpants. Assistant District Attorney Brian Fields said his office would present charges to the Grand Jury over the following three days, with a return to court set for Nov. 25. It would be announced then whether the Grand Jury voted to indict, but the charges would remain sealed until the following Supreme Court date when the indictment would be unsealed and Pimentel required to enter a plea.
Pimentel’s Legal Aid lawyer Joseph Zablocki stated in court that his client did not want Zablocki to continue representing him, but would not explain why in open court to the judge, or later to reporters. Zablocki said that the fact that Pimentel had a visible internet presence belied charges of planning to commit a terrorist attack.
