N.Y. terrorism cases likely shared same informant
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — An informant known as CS-2 apparently is the common denominator in a pair of high-profile terrorism arrests, according to recently released court papers.
• Mufid Elfgeeh, 32, a Rochester pizza shop owner, pleaded guilty Dec. 17 to recruiting for the the Islamic State terrorism network.
• Emanuel Lutchman, 25, of Rochester was arrested Wednesday and accused of an Islamic State-inspired plot to abduct or kill patrons New Year's Eve at a bar here. Officials canceled the city's New Year's Eve fireworks celebration Thursday as a precaution.
FBI spokeswoman Maureen Dempsey declined to discuss the Lutchman investigation or to comment on whether the informant, also referred to as a confidential source, is the same in the two cases, but court papers make the likelihood clear.
The informant's activities could add to a refrain common after similar FBI arrests of alleged terrorist sympathizers: Was the target of the investigation a true threat and terrorist sympathizer, or did informants paid by federal law enforcement push him toward an illegal plot?
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Elected state and federal officials were quick Thursday to praise the FBI's work.
"The good news is, Virginia, that law enforcement worked," Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Virginia Butler in a Time Warner Cable interview Thursday. "The federal agencies have done a magnificent job."
But social media, which can provide a crude portal into public perception, was abundant with the varying views of Lutchman's arrest and his alleged New Year's Eve plot to attack and kill patrons at Merchants Grill. The bar's co-owner, John Page, said Thursday that the FBI told him his establishment was the target.
Twitter and Facebook had applause for law enforcement's work in potentially thwarting a bloody holiday attack. But others had questions about whether Lutchman, a troubled and fragile man with a history of mental illness, was truly much of a threat.
The FBI has been accused of being overzealous in its pursuit of terrorist sympathizers.
"Americans have been told that their government is keeping them safe by preventing and prosecuting terrorism inside the U.S.," Andrea Prasow, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch, said in a 2014 statement. "But take a closer look and you realize that many of these people would never have committed a crime if not for law enforcement encouraging, pressuring, and sometimes paying them to commit terrorist acts."
Prasow co-authored a Human Rights Watch report that analyzed 27 federal terrorism cases.
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"Many prosecutions have properly targeted individuals engaged in planning or financing terror attacks," it concluded. "But many others have targeted people who do not appear to have been involved in terrorist plotting or financing at the time the government began to investigate them."
Attempts to reach Prasow Friday for comment about the recent arrests were unsuccessful.
Lutchman, who apparently converted to the Muslim religion while in state prison for a robbery charge, is accused of communicating with a man he considered to be within the ranks of the Islamic State. To become a member of the Islamic State himself, he became convinced that he needed to execute a terrorist act in the United States, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Timothy Klapec.
Lutchman then allegedly discussed his plans in conversations with FBI informants. Those conversations were recorded.
"Lutchman discussed with CS-2 doing assassinations and using a pressure cooker bomb," the affidavit states.
Lutchman's informant began working with the FBI around November 2013. CS-2 once was convicted of an attempted drug sale and served a year in jail on the charge, according to court papers. He also has a previous misdemeanor drug-related conviction.
An informant in the Elfgeeh case, also dubbed CS-2, has the same defining characteristics.
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"As of December 2015, the FBI has paid CS-2 a total of approximately $7,400 in exchange for his cooperation in an unrelated investigation," Klapec wrote in the Dec. 30 affidavit.
At one point, court papers say, Lutchman considered abandoning the New Year's Eve plot after another informant, at the direction of investigators, told Lutchman he was dropping out of the attack.
"CS-2 ... told Lutchman not to let (the informant's) backing out of the operation upset him," the affidavit states.
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Afterward, Lutchman is accused of proposing "they kidnap a couple of people and kill them." He and CS-2 drove by Merchants Grill, which Lutchman allegedly identified as a possible target, then the next day — Tuesday — bought materials at a Walmart for the attack.
There, with CS-2 paying for the goods, they bought a machete, knives, zip ties, duct tape, ammonia and latex gloves, the FBI alleges. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Lutchman on Wednesday as he drove with CS-2.
Lutchman is scheduled to be in federal court Jan. 8. Court papers show he is a mentally unstable man who was jailed at age 16 for a 1986 robbery and subsequent minor crimes. A case of domestic violence against a girlfriend is now pending.
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His grandmother, who lives in Florida, told NBC News that she talked to Lutchman after the arrest, and he said it "was a sting."
"They set him up," Beverley Carridice said.
However, the court papers claim that Lutchman made statements showing a willingness to kill.
"I will take a life," he allegedly told CS-2. "I don't have a problem with that."
In the aftermath of arrests such as Lutchman's, the issue of legal entrapment often arises. But, for an individual to be entrapped under the law, that person has to show no initial willingness to commit the crime.
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In essence, if the accused has suggested the criminal activity, police then can build sting scenarios that lead to an arrest.
Police "can help them all they want as long as there is a predisposition," said William Clauss, a former federal public defender.
Clauss has his own history with the FBI and terrorism cases. He was one of the defense lawyers in the Lackawanna Six case, in which Yemeni-American men who lived in Lackawanna, N.Y., admitted to traveling to al-Qaeda camps for terrorist training.
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After the men were charged, Clauss said, there was "a certain sentiment (among their supporters) that they hadn't really done anything." But the suspects' defense team fully understood why the suspicion built around the men and the arrests were made.
It's understandable why the FBI may act aggressively if agents have a legitimate belief of a terrorist-connected threat, he said. That's "the kind of scenario where you err on the side of caution."
Follow Gary Craig on Twitter: @gcraig1
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