Man pleads guilty to Catonsville military recruiting office bomb plot

A Baltimore man pleaded guilty Thursday to trying to blow up a Catonsville military recruiting station.
Antonio Benjamin Martinez, 22, was arrested on Dec. 8, 2010 after he attempted to detonate what he believed to be explosives at the armed forces recruiting station near Baltimore.

According to Martinez’s plea agreement, he was a recent convert to Islam when he began planning an attack against a military building. He confided those plans to an FBI confidential source, saying Muslims were being unjustly killed by the American military.

He said he wanted to kill American soldiers until the country stopped its “war” against Islam, according to the plea agreement. He also posted militant beliefs on his Facebook page.

After he unsuccessfully tried to involve several people in his plot, the FBI source connected Martinez with his fictitious “Afghan brother,” who would help with the operation. The brother was an undercover FBI agent.

After meeting with him, Martinez said the brother was the “answer to his prayers,” according to the plea agreement.
“This is an example of another successful prosecution that resulted from outstanding partnerships between the Muslim community and law enforcement,” said Richard A. McFeely, FBI special agent in charge.

Share Button

Sources