An ex-Marine who plotted a bomb and gun attack on tourists at San Francisco’s Pier 39 on Christmas Day will plead guilty to a federal case, court documents show.
Everitt Aaron Jameson, from Modesto, will enter a guilty plea on June 4, the documents say, without making it clear what he will be pleading guilty to.
Jameson, a tow-truck driver, had pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to aid a terrorist organization and distributing bomb-making information in January.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail.
Everitt Aaron Jameson, 26, from Modesto, California, was arrested last month for an alleged terror plot. He is pictured above in a recent Facebook profile picture
Everitt Aaron Jameson intended to use pipe bombs to funnel people into an area of the popular Pier 39 tourist destination in order to shoot them, the indictment alleges
Jameson’s federal defenders did not immediately return telephone and email messages.
The FBI arrested Jameson on December 22 after he allegedly talked about his plans to undercover agents, including one he thought was associated with ISIS.
The indictment and a previously released FBI affidavit say he described to agents how to build pipe bombs, described where he intended to assemble the bombs, asked for remote timers, and described how he intended to use the bombs ‘to funnel people into an area in order to shoot them.’
Assistant federal defender Charles Lee said he hadn’t been presented with the evidence and that his office would investigate the possibility of an entrapment defense.
Lee said the FBI found no bomb-making materials when they searched his home, and that two rifles and a handgun were legally owned by a relative and were locked in a gun case where Jameson couldn’t get them.
He said the federal charges are built only on statements his client posted on his Facebook page. Lee added that his client told the FBI undercover employee: ‘I also don’t think I can do this after all. I’ve reconsidered.’
Jameson, 26, graduated from Marines training in 2009 but was later discharged for failing to tell them he had asthma. He describes himself as a ‘slave of Allah’ on social media
Jameson was discharged from the Marine Corps after little more than four months in 2009 for failing to disclose a history of asthma.
The FBI affidavit said he asked for a fully automatic assault rifle and noted that he earned a sharpshooter qualification.
That is a basic marksmanship qualification and Jameson was never trained as a sniper during the brief time he spent at Camp Pendleton, California, said Marine spokeswoman Yvonne Carlock.
Jameson is set for a court hearing Friday in federal court in Fresno.
Federal Magistrate Judge Erica Grosjean last week ordered him detained without bail in part because he has no substantial known financial resources.
She also found that Jameson has a history relating to drug abuse and appears to have a mental condition that may affect whether he would show up for future hearings.
Police found a manifesto at his home which denounced Trump for recently declaring Jerusalem Israel’s capital and they also discovered three handguns and four fireworks.
For months, Jameson had been speaking to an undercover FBI agent who he thought was a high-ranking member of a terror group.
FBI agents say he revealed his plot to unleash terror on San Francisco’s Pier 39 (above) to an undercover agent where he would cram people into a confined space before shooting at them
Agents started looking into him after one of their sources flagged his Facebook profile to them. The source said they noticed him ‘liking’ posts in support of ISIS and terror attacks against the US.
Between October and late December, Jameson exchanged messages with the source and with a second undercover FBI agent who he thought were both high ranking members of terror groups.
Among their messages was his offer to use a truck from the tow truck company where he worked to further the ’cause’.
Jameson, 26, graduated from the marines in 2009 and was later discharged for not telling them he had latent asthma
He also asked them for materials included a PVC pipe, ammunition, powder, nails and an assault rifle, they said.
Jameson’s plan was to set off explosives at the pier to ‘funnel’ crowds to a certain area where he could then hurt them further by presumably shooting them, according to the documents.
Jameson, who refers to himself as a ‘slave of Allah’ online, said Jerusalem was Palestine’s capital instead.
In his correspondence with the agents, he called himself a ‘revert’ meaning he had returned to Islam after not believing.
On December 16, he allegedly met with an undercover FBI agent and proposed a bomb attack on the tourist destination.
He said he was familiar with the site and sent the undercover agents maps and the photographs of it, they said.
In his manifesto, he allegedly described being inspired by the October 31 New York City attack of Sayfullo Saipov who killed eight people by mowing them down on cycle path in a rented Home Depot truck.
He is alleged to have told them: ‘I was a soldier in the Kuffar army before I reverted. I have been trained in combat and things of war. In Sha Allah anything of that nature, as well as funding. Anything for Allah.’
Later, he told the agent ‘they needed something along the lines of New York or San Bernardino’.
Jameson continued to speak to him over text message but, on December 18, backed out of the plot, they said.
‘I also don’t think I can do this after all. I’ve reconsidered,’ he allegedly said.
The FBI searched his home on December 20 and found inside a ‘last will’ and a statement.
The statement read: ‘I Abdallah adu Everitt ibn Gordon have committed these acts upon the Kuffar, in the name of Dar al Islam, Allahu Akbar! You all have brought this upon yourselves.
‘There is no innocent Kuffar! Each and every Kuffar in this Nationalistic, Godless society has a hand in this.
‘You’ve allowed Donald J. Trump to give away Al Quds to the Jews. Both You and he are wrong, it belongs to the Muslemeen. We have penetrated and infiltrated your disgusting country. These acts will continue until the Lions of Islam overtake you.
‘Turn to Allah, make tawbah and fight with us, the soldiers who fight in the day and night. Allah SWT is most forgiving, I am not. Long live Isil, Long Live Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
‘Abdallah abu Everitt ibn Gordon al-Amriki.’
During the search of his home, he allegedly admitted to supporting ISIS and said he would have been happy for an attack to be carried out.