Man accused of threatening lives of federal judge and FBI on Twitter gets probation
After being held nearly three months behind bars without bail, a Minnesota man accused of threatening the lives of a federal judge and FBI agents on Twitter took a plea Tuesday morning as his case was about to go to trial.
Originally charged with felonies that could have put him away for 15 years, if convicted, Khaalid Abdulkadir, 20, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of impeding a federal officer or employee, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
He got two years of electronic monitoring and three years of probation.
KMSP and MPR News also have stories.
The defendant is accused of sending threatening tweets within hours after a friend was arrested in December for allegedly making plans to join ISIS in Syria. The friend, Abdirizak Warsame, was charged in a claimed conspiracy to provide material support to the foreign terror group
“They will find on the floor body’s dropping fast #kill them FBI,” read one of the Twitter posts by Abdulkadir.
Although Abdulkadir had deleted the tweets within 25 minutes, a government informant took screen shots and sent them to authorities.
Abdulkadir apologized and said: “I learned from my mistake,” reports MPR News. Abdulkadir, who was a nursing student before his arrest, now plans to return to school.
Related coverage:
MPR News: “Mpls. man charged with threatening FBI agents”
Star Tribune: “As trial looms, Mpls. parents ask: Our son an Islamic terrorist?”
See also:
MPR News: “What we know: 10th MN man charged in ISIS probe”
KARE: “Minnesota man pleads guilty in Islamic State case”
