Massachusetts prison inmate accused of conspiring to assassinate the president
A Worcester man currently serving time at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater is accused of threatening to assassinate the U.S. president, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Alex Hernandez, 31, was charged Monday with two counts of threatening to kill and inflict harm upon the president of the United States, authorities said.
Prosecutors allege that Hernandez told an inmate last year that he was upset about the way “his people” were being treated and wanted to become a mujahideen, a term used to describe an individual engaged in jihad, according the U.S. Attorney’s office. He also allegedly claimed that he would be able to obtain weapons upon being released from prison and intended to wage a “lone-wolf style” attack against the president before fleeing the country using false travel documents.
The inmate Hernandez confided in was working as a cooperating witness in the investigation, and told agents about the threats, authorities said. Investigators then had an undercover agent pose as an embassy contact and agree to help Hernandez by providing the fraudulent travel documents. Months after the initial report, the other inmate gave Hernandez a mailing address to contact the undercover agent, and Hernandez began writing to the person he believed was a contact with an embassy in November, authorities said.
“I am writing to you now to ask that you come see me. I am a brother in faith, a martyr; and as a martyr I wish to fulfill Allah’s wishes and not to live among infidels,” Hernandez allegedly wrote in one of two letters. “The mujahedeen (sic) movement is hard but pure. I need your help and I hope to meet you in person.”
The undercover agent then met with Hernandez twice at the correctional facility — once in December, and for a second time in February. During the first meeting, authorities say Hernandez expressed his plan to attack “the house with the big people there,” which he confirmed meant the White House. He also allegedly told the agent that “there is always a head. He’s the one who’s always in charge. So if you attack the head, everything will go down a little bit,” when asked about further details of his plan. Authorities say Hernandez said he wanted to learn to shoot “like a sniper” and that someone in Florida had a firearm waiting for him upon his release. He also allegedly said he was studying the process used to make explosives to place in government buildings.
When meeting with the agent again in February, authorities say Hernandez disclosed a motive for his planned attacks, saying that his brothers are “fighting to uphold the laws and structure of the caliphate in the Middle East,” and that the U.S. government was trying to portray them as “the bad guys.” Hernandez allegedly said he selected the president as the target of his attacks because “he’s the one that gives the orders.”
A search of Hernandez’s cell uncovered a number of items officials found concerning, including a list of U.S. presidents with the word “kill” handwritten under the name of any leader who had been assassinated in office and images depicting the September 11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden, and members of ISIS, authorities said.
If convicted, Hernandez could face up to five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and see a fine of $250,000.
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