NY Man Convicted Of Trying To Recruit For ISIS To Be Sentenced
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A New York pizza shop owner who admitted he tried to recruit people for the Islamic State group is facing sentencing.
Prosecutors are expected to recommend a 22 1/2-year prison term under a plea agreement for Mufid Elfgeeh when he appears Thursday in federal court in Rochester.
Elfgeeh pleaded guilty in December to attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
According to the indictment, Elfgeeh tried to arrange for three individuals to travel to Syria to join the extremist group in 2013 and early 2014. Authorities said two of those people were actually FBI informants.
Federal authorities said Elfgeeh he bought two handguns and two silencers as part of a plan to kill members of the U.S. armed forces returning from war and Shiites in the Rochester area.
Part of the federal investigation included linking Elfgeeh's home computer to tweets from alias Twitter accounts expressing support for al Qaeda, violent holy war and Sunni insurgent groups in Syria, according to court papers.
CBS affiliate WROC-TV in Rochester reported that Elfgeeh was born in Yemen, but is a U.S. citizen. He was the owner of MoJoe's Store and Food Mart on North Clinton Avenue in Rochester, which was hit by an overnight fire in July, the station reported.
When Elfgeeh was first arrested, Victor Montalvo, a former employee, told WROC that Elfgeeh was unpredictable and full of anger and rage.
Presentencing court filings show that since his 2014 arrest, Elfgeeh has met with the FBI and prosecutors and renounced the Islamic State group and its methods.
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