Terror Plot: Bail Denied for Riverside Man
Arifeen David Gojali was denied bail by a federal judge in Riverside. He is accused with three others of planning to join a terrorist group in Afghanistan.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This provided photo taken Friday, Nov. 16, 2012, by Jenny Collins from her neighbor's window shows law enforcement and FBI agents during a raid at the home of 21-year-old Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales of Upland, Calif. Santana was one of four Southern California men charged with plotting to kill Americans and destroy U.S. targets overseas by joining al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, federal officials said Monday. In one online conversation, Santana told an FBI undercover agent that he wanted to commit jihad and expressed interest in a jihadist training camp in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jenny Collins)
A Riverside man accused of planning to go to Afghanistan for fight for al-Qaeda and the Taliban was denied bail on Monday by a federal court judge in the inland city.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym ruled that Arifeen David Gojali was a flight risk as well as a danger to others. She ordered the 21-year-old to remain in federal custody while he is tried on charges of providing material support for terrorists.
Gojali was arrested Nov. 16 in Chino along with Ralph Deleon, 23, of Ontario, and Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales, of Upland. A fourth man, Sohiel Omar Kabir, is in custody in Afghanistan.
The four men are accused of numerous counts of providing material support for terrorists, with knowledge that their actions would lead to death, injury and the use of weapons of mass destruction overseas.
Gojali, a U.S. citizen, is believed to have joined the group in September, the FBI said. Authorities say he, Deleon and Santana Vidriales planned to travel to Afghanistan to be trained as terrorists.
The FBI said the three men had already made arrangements to fly to Afghanistan, and had discussed details of the trip among themselves and with an informant.
If convicted, they face a maximum of 15 years in prison. Pre-trial motions in Gojali's case were set for Dec. 5 in U.S. District Court in Riverside.
Hearings for Deleon and Santana Vidriales have been set for Dec. 3.
