Federal prosecutors have said they will oppose release on bail at Thursday’s hearing for Vicente Adolfo Solano
A bail hearing has been set for the Honduran man who was charged with plot to bomb a Miami-area shopping mall as an ISIS sympathizer.
Federal prosecutors have said they will oppose release on bail at Thursday’s hearing for Vicente Adolfo Solano.
The 53-year-old has been charged with terrorism-related charges and attempting to detonate a weapon of mass destruction after attempting to bomb the Miami-area Dolphin Mall on Friday.
He was arrested on the spot after receiving a fake bomb from undercover FBI agents outside the mall, according to an affidavit from the agency.
Prosecutors have said Solano should stay behind bars until his trial because he represents a danger to the community and is a flight risk, according to Assistant US Attorney Karen Gilbert.
The FBI has said that Solano, who told a judge on Monday that he works as a painter making $13 an hour, made videos of himself in all black and wearing a black mask talking about how he wanted to plant a bomb in a show of support to the Islamic State.
The 53-year-old has been charged with terrorism-related charges and attempting to detonate a weapon of mass destruction after attempting to bomb the Miami-area Dolphin Mall on Friday
Sweetwater Police posted a photo on Instagram Friday confirming that they worked with the FBI to protect the public
‘I am here because I like the way [Islamic State] confronts the United States and the countries of the coalition,’ Solano said in one video, standing in front of a black flag.
‘The United States is the most terrorist country of all. I am going to plant a bomb… that’s how it is going to be done.’
In a second video Solano said he is a ‘sympathizer of the Islamic group, ISIS.’
In court on Monday US Magistrate Judge Chris McAliley said she would appoint a public defender to represent Solano. No relatives appeared with him at the first hearing.
Court records show he has only had minor brushes with the law in the past, most recently in 2014 and 2015 for driving with a suspended license. He has no prior felony record.
The FBI began investigating Solano in late September after a confidential informant tipped agents off about his plans, the affidavit said.
It isn’t clear if Solano had links to any foreign terrorist groups, but at one point he told the confidential informant he had not discussed his plot with anyone else.
The FBI began investigating Solano in late September after a confidential informant tipped agents off about his plans, an FBI affidavit said
Solano’s plans started to come together in October when the informant introduced him to an undercover FBI employee who could supposedly help build a bomb.
He provided that employee with a sketch of the food court at the mall, which is the area he thought would be the most crowded, according to the FBI.
‘It’s easy because look… I go in, I sit down, I leave it and goodbye. I leave it. I won’t have a problem with that ,’ Solano said in one conversation that was recorded by the FBI agent.
After he bought screws and other materials to build the bomb, Solano met with the two undercover agents at a hotel to put it together. Then the trio drove to the mall, where ‘Solano took steps that he believed would arm the device and the timer to count down’ on the fake bomb, the affidavit said.
Authorities have said he was acting alone.