In a thin white T-shirt and orange jail-issued pants, Yahya Farooq Mohammad admitted in federal court Monday that while he was awaiting trial on charges of supporting terrorism, he tried to hire a hitman to kill the judge assigned to his case.
Mohammad, 39, a citizen of India, is expected to be sentenced to 27½ years in prison and ordered removed from the United States after he serves his prison sentence.
He pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to provide and conceal material support or resources to terrorists for raising a total of $29,000 that was delivered to American-born terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen in 2009. He also pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit a crime of violence for a 2016 plot to murder U.S. District Court Judge Jack Zouhary.
The two charges carry a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison, but as part of a plea agreement that calls for a 27½-year sentence, Mohammad agreed that he would not appeal and that he would be deported — permanently — from the United States to his native India.
“If I agree to this, you will be removed and never allowed under any conditions to return,” Chief Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., of the Southern District of Ohio, told Mohammad.
Judge Sargus was appointed to preside over the terrorism case after the plot on Judge Zouhary's life prompted him to recuse himself from the terrorism case last year.
“Conspiring to kill a judge is not the way to avoid being prosecuted,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony said in a news release. “Now Mohammad will be held accountable for additional serious federal charges.”
In court, Michael Freeman, an assistant U.S. Attorney, said Mohammad told a fellow inmate at the Lucas County jail in March, 2016, that he was willing to pay $15,000 to have Judge Zouhary killed. The individual connected him with an undercover FBI agent who asked for a $1,000 down payment to do the job.
Mr. Freeman said Mohammad arranged for his wife — a U.S. citizen living in Illinois — to meet the purported hitman and deliver the $1,000 payment. A few weeks later, the undercover agent again met with Mohammad's wife, he said, showed her a picture of what appeared to be a dead Judge Zouhary, and demanded the rest of the money.
Mohammad, who is now being held at the federal prison in Milan, Mich., was awaiting trial at the time along with his brother, Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad, 36, of Euless, Texas; and brothers, Sultane Roome Salim, 41, of Columbus and Asif Ahmed Salim, 35, who most recently lived in the United Arab Emirates. The four were indicted in 2015 for allegedly providing financial support to al-Awlaki, an Islamic lecturer-turned-terrorist who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.
Mr. Freeman said Mohammad conspired with his co-defendants to raise money for al-Awlaki “in support of violent jihad,” specifically to kill officers or employees of the United States, to kill U.S. nationals, or to commit other acts of terrorism. Two contributions — one of approximately $7,000 and the other of approximately $22,000 — were delivered to al-Awlaki in Yemen in 2009, Mr. Freeman said.
“Was the statement correct?” Judge Sargus asked Mohammad after Mr. Freeman reviewed the facts of each case.
“Yes sir,” replied Mohammad, who attended Ohio State University.
“Was any part of it incorrect?” the judge asked.
“No,” Mohammad replied.
Defense attorney Thomas Durkin pointed out that the plea agreement was “not a cooperation agreement,” meaning Mohammad will not be required to testify at the trials later this year of his co-defendants.
Mr. Durkin said afterward that his client accepted the plea agreement because it will enable him to get out of prison when he’s about the age of 60.
“That’s a long way from life,” Mr. Durkin added.
Federal officials called Mohammad a dangerous man.
“This defendant conspired to attack our service members abroad as well as a judge in Toledo,” acting U.S. Attorney David A. Sierleja of the Northern District of Ohio said in a news release. “He threatened the hallmarks of our democracy. He is a dangerous criminal who deserves a long prison sentence.”
Mohammad’s sentencing is expected to occur in 14 weeks, but was not immediately scheduled.
Contact Jennifer Feehan at jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.
First Published July 10, 2017, 3:49 p.m.