Would-Be Pentagon Model-Plane Bomber Enters Guilty Plea
The Massachusetts man charged with plotting to attack the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with remote-controlled model airplanes filled with explosives entered a guilty plea in a Boston federal court on Friday.
Rezwan Ferdaus told a packed courtroom, including his distraught family members, that he would accept the plea deal for a 17-year prison term that was hammered out by his attorneys and prosecutors this month.
Ferdaus’ mother sobbed as her son was led away by U.S. Marshals at the end of the hearing.
The charges against Ferdaus had carried a potential combined sentence of 35 years in prison. Sentencing will take place on November 1.
Ferdaus, 26, of Ashland, Massachusetts, pled guilty to attempting to destroy and damage a federal building, and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.
He initially pleaded not guilty to a total of six charges after his arrest in September 2011. Authorities dropped four charges in exchange for the guilty plea.
Ferdaus was arrested after an FBI investigation during which he requested and took delivery of plastic explosives, three grenades and six assault rifles from undercover FBI agents that he believed were members of al Qaeda.