Dominican-Born Muslim Terrorist Jose Pimentel Sentenced To 16 Years In Prison
Twenty-nine-year-old Dominican-born Muslim Terrorist, Jose Pimentel, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Tuesday following his guilty plea to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree last month.
Pimentel was arrested at his Harlem apartment on November 2011 after near completion of a set of pipe bombs that he planned to detonate all throughout New York City. The Al-Qaeda sympathizer assembled the pipe bombs with a variety of objects, including clocks and Christmas tree lights, all while maintaining a personal website that encouraged violence against U.S. citizens and government agencies.
Fortunately for the U.S., the would-be-terrorist's plots would never see the light of day all thanks to the prodding of a police informant. The police informant posed as a supporter of Pimentel's plan and secretly recorded conversations the two had of his planned terrorist attack.
Pimentel's ideas on terrorism were also noted in an Al-Qaeda terrorist magazine. "That is what I really want to get into because it's so cheap and it could do a lot of damage ... and then that's something worth going to jail for, you know. Like, if you get caught because you blew up half of a side of a police station."
Pimentel and his lawyers were offered the chance to speak after his sentencing on Tuesday but declined the offer. According to The NY Daily News, "It was a far cry from his Feb. 19 appearance when he flashed a sick grin as prosecutors read aloud his disturbing terror plans."
Although Pimentel avoided a life sentencing with his guilty plea deal, he still will not be seeing the light of day until 2030.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement, "This was a lone wolf who formulated a significant part of his terror plot through the use of the Internet. Fortunately this threat was thwarted through the coordinated intelligence and investigation."