Jul 21, 2006 1:21 pm US/Central
Sears Tower Terror Suspect Admits al-Qaeda Tie
Lyglenson Lemorin Pleads Not Guilty
MIAMI (AP) ―
One of seven men accused of plotting terrorist attacks against Chicago's Sears Tower and government buildings in major cities pleaded not guilty Friday despite his own admission in writing that he took an oath of loyalty to al-Qaeda.
Lyglenson Lemorin, 31, entered the plea during a brief hearing in federal court after he was transferred to Miami from Atlanta, where he was arrested in June. Another hearing is set for Aug. 8 to determine if he should be released on bail.
Lemorin is accused along with six others in a four-count grand jury indictment with conspiracy and material support charges stemming from an alleged plot to blow up the Sears Tower and destroy FBI offices and other buildings in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Washington.
The other suspects have also pleaded not guilty and are being held without bail. Authorities have said their purported plot never moved beyond the preliminary stages and the supposed al-Qaeda operative they were dealing with was actually an FBI informant with no ties to the terrorist network.
In a handwritten, signed statement to the FBI dated the day of his arrest, Lemorin admitted taking an oath of loyalty known as "bayat" to al-Qaeda along with other members of a group of adherents to a Moorish Science Temple religious sect headed by Narseal Batiste.
Lemorin also said in the statement that he was present when an informant posing as an al-Qaeda operative gave Batiste "a video camera to film target locations (federal buildings and Tower building) in Miami, FL, and Chicago, IL, to destroy."
In a three-hour interview with FBI agents, however, Lemorin said he tried to distance himself from Batiste and that he had second thoughts about the al-Qaeda oath. Lemorin said he objected to the oath a short time after taking it and that he felt "nothing good would come of this."
Batiste, however, "imposed fear into everyone," Lemorin said, adding that he didn't report Batiste or other members of the group to police to protect his family from possible retribution. Lemorin has a wife and three children.
"After this night, he attempted to stray away from the group," according to an FBI summary of Lemorin's interview.
But Lemorin remained in Miami for a time, finally leaving for the Atlanta area in April. Court documents show that Lemorin had been working at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Atlanta before his arrest on the terror charges.
Lemorin acknowledged he stood guard outside a warehouse the group used as a headquarters and that Batiste had taught him martial arts skills. Lemorin also brought his 9 mm handgun to the warehouse, and authorities say it was later used in an attempted shooting as the group was going through a violent rift.
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