An FBI sting operation ended Friday evening with the arrest of a Florida man blamed with trying to blow up a suburban Miami synagogue, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Anton said Monday.
James Medina, a 40-year-old Muslim convert from Hollywood, Florida was arrested on Friday evening while in the midst of attempting to carry out an attack on the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center, Mr. Anton told U.S. Magistrate Judge William Turnoff on Monday, according to The Associated Press.
The FBI learned in March that Mr. Medina had planned to carry out an attack on the Jewish center and set up an undercover operation that culminated in Friday’s arrest, the prosecutor said.
During conversations with a confidential informant, Mr. Medina allegedly discussed his “interest in conducting an attack” on the synagogue and talked about “obtaining a bomb he could either place under a car or throw it over the wall,” Mr. Anton said Monday, according to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. Mr. Medina was supplied with a phony bomb by an undercover agent on Friday night and was arrested moments later near the synagogue, the prosecutor said.
Several of his conversations with the informant were tape recorded and referenced in an 17-page affidavit seen by the AP that details Mr. Medina’s alleged determination to carry out the attack.
“When I’m doing this, I feel that I’m doing it for a good cause for Allah,” he is quoted as saying.
“I’m up for it. I really am. This is no joke. This is serious, dog,” he allegedly said in another exchange.
Mr. Medina made his initial court appearance on Monday but has not yet formally been charged. He’s scheduled to be arraigned on May 16, at which point he’ll be charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, the AP reported. If convicted, Mr. Medina could face a maximum penalty of life in prison.
“This attempted attack is a harsh reminder that there are many in our community who are motivated by bigotry and violence,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat, said in a statement. “As a community and a nation we must work together to confront this kind of hatred.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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