Emanuel L. Lutchman, a 26-year-old from Rochester, New York, pleaded guilty Aug. 11 to conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Lutchman faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime term of supervised release.
Federal officials, who announced the guilty plea, said that Lutchman admitted that he conspired with an individual known as Abu Issa Al-Amriki, a now-deceased ISIL member in Syria, and planned to conduct an attack against civilians using knives and a machete on New Year’s Eve in 2015. Lutchman has been detained in federal custody since his arrest by FBI Dec. 30, 2015.
Lutchman admitted that he intended to conduct an attack that could be claimed by ISIL and that could also help him gain membership into ISIL when he thereafter traveled overseas to join the terrorist organization.
According to court documents, Lutchman posted on social media expressions of support for ISIL, including images, videos and documents relating to ISIL and violent jihad. He also downloaded and watched terrorism-related videos, including videos relating to ISIL and the now-deceased terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki.
The defendant also maintained a digital collection of documents relating to terrorism and terrorist groups, including all of the issues of Inspire magazine and other documents designed to provide guidance to individuals seeking to travel overseas to engage in violent jihad or engage in “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States and elsewhere.
In December 2015, Lutchman obtained an online document written by an ISIL member in Syria, in which the ISIL member provided guidance to ISIL supporters who were seeking to travel overseas to join ISIL, including advice about preparation for violent jihad; the use of security measures while traveling to avoid apprehension by law enforcement authorities; instructions for killing non-believers and infidels, or “kuffar;” and contact information for the ISIL member and Al-Amriki.
“Residents of this community can now sleep better knowing that a person who wanted to kill in the name of an infamous terrorist group – right on the streets of our city – will no longer be a threat,” William J. Hochul Jr. of the Western District of New York, said.
Lutchman’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 15, 2016.
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