SAN FRANCISCO _ An Oakland, Calif., man who was caught discussing various plots to kill thousands of people around the Bay Area is set to be sentenced next month, according to court records.
Amer Alhaggagi, whose last name is also referred to as "Al-Haggagi" in court records, pleaded guilty earlier this year to attempting to give material aid to a terrorist organization, stemming from when he helped people connected to the Islamic State, known as ISIL and ISIS, set up social media accounts that were used for propaganda. He also pleaded guilty to three identity theft counts.
But federal authorities say his plans were much more chilling than spreading terrorist propaganda: He spoke with an undercover FBI agent about his goal to kill up to 10,000 people. He was caught on video discussing the plots with an undercover FBI agent.
"I want to make it to point where every American here thinks twice or three times before he leaves his home," Alhaggagi said on the video, which was obtained by KQED. "Like, 'Is it necessary for me to leave right now?' That's how I want it to be."
But in a letter to the court, Alhaggagi claimed the purported plots were fantasies he concocted out of boredom, and said he had no intentions of committing terrorism.
"Everything was a joke to me ... I didn't think anyone was taking me seriously," Alhaggagi wrote to the court. "I do not support any terrorist organization, or any organization for that matter. It truly saddens me to acknowledge and own up to the fact that it took me to come to this calaboose to elevate my mind from the vacuous state that it was in. I feel really bad for the harm I've caused everyone and wasting the FBIs (sic) valuable time."
According to court records, Alhaggagi was born in Lodi and attended Berkeley High School from 2008 to 2012. Afterward he worked briefly at Andronico's grocery store and took college classes.
Prosecutors says Alhaggagi's plans included planting bombs around Oakland and the University of California, Berkeley, blowing up a gay bar in San Francisco, setting arson fires around the Berkeley hills, and distributing poisoned cocaine in local night clubs. He reportedly spoke of a desire to kill "gays and Jews" in particular, and said he wanted to kill UC Berkeley students because "they think they are better than everyone else."
When agents searched his home, they reportedly found a note claiming responsibility for the attacks, and saying they were done in the name of ISIS. He said the attack would have three phases: The first would be poisoning "infidels," then setting a gasoline fire in the Berkeley hills during the day, then a series of bomb attacks. He wrote that he hoped the attacks would inspire copycats.
"As for the final operation, it is only if I were to be exposed and unable to leave the country; if I were surrounded in an area; a direct confrontation with security; either the police or army, the end will be an explosive belt after the ammunition runs out," he wrote.
Alhaggagi's lawyer described his client as an internet troll who had a lifelong fascination with getting a rise out of people by coming up with offensive things to say. He said Alhaggagi took this to an extreme end on the internet, but that those who knew him well say he would never actually harm others. The defense pointed out that Alhaggagi never bought bomb-making material, despite saying he would.
"Amer Alhaggagi is not a terrorist. He is neither radicalized nor dangerous," his attorneys Mary McNamara and August Gugelmann wrote in a sentencing brief. They later added: "He believed none of what he said, was surprised when anyone took him seriously and, in fact, is something of a coward. He is truly remorseful for (and mortified by) his atrocious online behavior and what he has put everyone through."
Federal authorities responded that any attempts to paint Alhaggagi's actions as "a lark" were "purely false" and that his "appetite for evil knows no bounds."
During the investigation, Alhaggagi reportedly had internet chats with members of ISIS, including a 17-year-old who later admitted to authorities he was part of United Cyber Caliphate, a hacker branch of ISIL. He also spoke with an FBI informant who introduced him to an undercover FBI agent that claimed to have ties to al-Qaida.
Alhaggagi met with the agent multiple times and discussed in detail ways to kill hundreds or thousands of people. During their talks, Alhaggagi claimed his uncle in Yemen was a friend of Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American imam described by U.S. officials as a recruiter and planner for al-Qaida. Al-Awlaki was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
Prosecutors say that Alhaggagi eventually became suspicious that the undercover agent wasn't who he claimed to be, and questioned the agent _ who made several missteps _ about his knowledge on Iran and other subjects. When the agent expressed sympathy for Iran, Alhaggagi became suspicious, and even more so when the agent failed to recognize the leader of al-Qaida by name.
At their final meeting in Oakland, Alhaggagi reportedly invented a ruse and ran from the agent, and they never crossed paths again. Federal prosecutors called this proof that Alhaggagi had figured out the agent's true identity, but Alhaggagi's attorney said it was evidence that Alhaggagi never intended to commit a terrorist attack.
In his letter, Alhaggagi said that after he met with the FBI agent, he began to believe the man was actually plotting terrorist attacks, and became extremely concerned. He said his plan was to blow off the agent indefinitely. After the last meeting, he stayed off the internet for more than a month, he wrote, but then went "back to messing with people on the internet especially the ISIS guys.
"It was a mixture of imprudence and boredom and as I had stated in the very beginning of this paper, I was in a funk! What can I say but that I should of known better, but regretfully I didn't," he wrote.
But federal authorities say they have further proof Alhaggagi fully intended to carry out plots: After Alhaggagi was arrested on identity theft charges in November 2016 _ before the terrorism charge was filed _ two jail inmates came forward saying Alhaggagi had approached them about planning more attacks. The inmates' statements were filed under seal.
Alhaggagi will be sentenced on Jan. 8, according to federal prosecutors.
