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| Terror Probe Targets Prison in Folsom |
| By LA Times |
| Published: 08/17/2005 |
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Counterterrorism officials investigating an alleged plot to attack National Guard recruitment centers, synagogues and other sites in Southern California said Tuesday they are investigating the possibility that the plot was hatched by Islamic extremists and gang members at a state prison in Folsom. Details remained closely guarded, but law enforcement sources said they were actively investigating the breadth of possible connections between three men now in custody in Los Angeles and inmates at California State Prison, Sacramento, one of two prisons in Folsom, about 25 miles east of the capital. The possibility of connections between prison gangs and potential terrorists has been a worry for U.S. officials for some time. There are at least several significant investigations into the alleged use of federal and state prisons as bases for recruiting potential Islamic terrorists, according to a senior FBI counterterrorism official in Washington. Investigators emphasized that they have not proved the alleged plot in the current case was hatched at the prison. Nor are they certain how many of about two dozen targets involved in the case might have been the site of a planned terrorist attack. The investigators say they do know that an Islamic group called Jamiyyat Ul Islam Is Saheeh, or JIS, has had a presence at the prison for about five years and that its followers include both inmates and former inmates. The group's name translates from Arabic into the Assembly of Authentic Islam. Devan Hawkes, a gang specialist with the Corrections Department, said the group was the smaller and newer of two Islamic gangs, referred to by agents as "disruptive groups," known to be operating in California prisons. Officials involved in the investigation have three people in custody who are believed to be connected with the alleged plot - Levar Haney Washington, 25; Gregory Vernon Patterson, a 21-year-old former employee of a duty-free shop at Los Angeles International Airport; and Hamad Riaz Samana, 21, of Inglewood. Washington is a former inmate at California State Prison, Sacramento, and a former gang member. Authorities have filed only local robbery charges against Washington and Patterson. Both remain in custody at the Men's Central Jail. Samana was arrested more than a week ago by counterterrorism officials in connection with the investigation. He is being held on unspecified charges at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. In the course of the current investigation, authorities have been looking into allegations that the plot was conceived by two inmates at California State Prison, Sacramento, Peter Martinez and Kevin Lamar James. Prison officials declined to discuss that allegation, citing the FBI investigation of the alleged plot. Todd Slosek, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said only that Martinez was from Alameda County and was serving a 40-year sentence for attempted second-degree murder, following earlier stints in the system for drug offenses. James, of Los Angeles County, is incarcerated on a 10-year term for attempted second-degree robbery, Slosek said. He also had a history of juvenile offenses. The investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force began last month after Torrance police arrested Washington and Patterson in connection with a string of robberies and allegedly recovered evidence at Washington's apartment suggesting that a terrorist attack might be in the offing. The alleged evidence included addresses of locations as well as dates - among them, Sept. 11 - for a possible terrorist attack, according to officials familiar with the investigation. |
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