Founder Of Prison-based Terrorist Group Sentenced To 16 years

The founder of a prison-based terrorist group that targeted the U.S. government and supporters of Israel was sentenced Friday to 16 years in federal prison.

Kevin James, 32, who founded Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS, pleaded guilty in 2007 of plotting “to levy war against the United States through terrorism.”

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney described James as “the mastermind and architect of a terrorist conspiracy” to attack LAX, Army recruiting centers and the Israeli Consulate. Still, Carney said he believed James felt genuine remorse and had written him “the most powerful letter I’ve ever received” as a judge.

In the letter, portions of which the judge read aloud, James described his violent upbringing in Inglewood, harsh conditions he endured at the California Youth Authority and the horrors of prison, where James has spent much of his adult life.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Gregory W. Staples, arguing for an 18-year prison term for James, said that when authorities stopped the conspirators, “they were gearing up and accelerating.” He said James’ group planned to stage attacks on political targets with the proceeds of gas station robberies, and the group’s writings contained calls to acquire remote-controlled bombs and silencer-equipped guns.

At New Folsom prison in 2004, James recruited fellow inmate Levar Washington, who was released that year and in turn recruited Gregory Patterson. When Torrance police focused on Washington and Patterson as suspects in a series of 2005 robberies, a search of their South Los Angeles apartment turned up the JIS manifesto and a list of potential targets of attack.

In James’ prison cell, authorities found a statement he had written to be distributed to the media in the aftermath of such an attack. It warned “sincere Muslims” to avoid supporters of Israel and promised more attacks intended “to defend and propagate traditional Islam in its purity.”

via Founder of prison-based terrorist group sentenced to 16 years – Los Angeles Times.

FBI Sending Suspicious Powder To Headquarters

A suspicious substance mailed to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is on its way to FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va., for further testing.

FBI agents in Salt Lake City said they received a final report from the state health department on the white powdery substance in an envelope mailed to Temple Square last week. Tests were conducted to ensure it wasn’t ricin, anthrax or any other biological weapon.

“It is not any kind of biological agent or toxin or even a new strain,” FBI Special Agent Juan Becerra said Monday.

Envelopes with white powder were mailed to Temple Square, the LDS Church’s temple in Los Angeles, and a printing press belonging to the Catholic-affiliated Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Conn. Both churches were heavy backers of California’s Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage in that state.

The FBI has labeled its probe a domestic terrorism investigation. Becerra would not say whether the agency had identified any suspects in the case, but reiterated Monday that the FBI had no evidence that linked the threats to Prop. 8 or its opponents.

Many gay rights organizations have also decried the threats.

Source

Fires Ravage California Southern California

While this is obviously not a terror related event, in the interest of serving our readers and online community we will continue to monitor this situation and provide links to the latest news and information.

UPDATE: Chaotic, gusting winds fanned wildfires all over Southern California on Saturday. Live links are listed below.

UPDATE: A wildfire fanned by hurricane-force wind ripped through northwestern Los Angeles foothills on Saturday, forcing some 10,000 people to flee their homes and threatening the power supply of California’s largest city.

A separate fire burned a second day in the celebrity enclave of Montecito, where 111 homes have been destroyed.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the fire in the foothills near Sylmar had already destroyed dozens of structures — more than any other in the past decade — and that the flames could take down power lines feeding the city.

“The fire is threatening the power of the city of Los Angeles,” Villaraigosa told a news conference. “We may have to move to rolling blackouts.”

Source

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A massive brush fire in Sylmar has burned at least five homes and 2600 acres, forcing evacuations as strong winds are quickly spreading the flames. The flames jumped the 210 Freeway causing L.A. Fire Department to close the roadway.

Winds were gusting up to about 50 mph at 2 a.m. as several homes along Dronefield Avenue burned. The fire jumped the 210 freeway near Cobalt Street, and the freeway was closed shortly after midnight.

As many as a dozen homes burned since the fire started about 10:30 p.m. Friday. An estimated 1,500 acres were blackened in the foothills, mostly north of the freeway.

Officials at Olive View Medical Center, which was without electricity, were working to evacuate some 200 patients to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. The most critical patients and babies were moved first.

Some storage buildings on the hospital campus burned.

Just one injury was reported — a 40-year-old man who suffered serious burns, according to broadcast reports.

Evacuations were ordered north of the freeway. Police were helping firefighters get disabled people out of their homes. As many as 5,000 people were sent to shelters.

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