Worcester Man Allegedly Planned 'Lone-Wolf' Attack On President Obama
BRIDGEWATER (CBS) – An inmate at a Bridgewater prison is being charged with threatening to kill President Barack Obama in a "lone-wolf style" attack.
Prosecutors say 31-year-old Alex Hernandez of Worcester was charged in U.S. District Court in Boston on two counts of threatening to kill and inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States.
He is currently a prisoner at Old Colony Correctional Center.
FBI agents learned of Hernandez's alleged plans in March 2015. Hernandez is accused of telling another inmate that he was upset about the way "his people were being treated" and saying that he wanted to become a holy warrior.
Hernandez allegedly had the ability to obtain weapons upon his release from prison. Prosecutors say he wanted to kill President Obama "in a lone-wolf style attack."
Hernandez mentioned that he wanted flee the country after his planned attack.
The FBI introduced the Worcester resident to an undercover agent who was posing as an embassy contact to help him obtain false travel documents.
Hernandez allegedly wrote several letters to the undercover agent. The address for the purported embassy contact was actually the mailing address to a P.O. box for the agent.
"I am writing to you now to ask that you come see me," prosecutors say Hernandez wrote. "I am a brother in faith, a martyr; and as a martyr I wish to fulfill Allah's wishes and not to live among infidels. The mujahedeen movement is hard but pure. I need your help and I hope to meet you in person."
While referencing Obama, Hernandez allegedly said "if you attack the head, everything will go down a little bit" and added that he wanted to learn to shoot "like a sniper."
The FBI also says Hernandez was studying how to make explosives that could be placed around government buildings to "create chaos."
Prosecutors added that in his jail cell, Hernandez had a list of former U.S. presidents and "kill" was written beneath all that had been assassinated.
Images of the September 11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden and members of ISIS were also found.
If convicted, Hernandez faces no more than five years in jail.