Florida Man Gets 20 Years For Terrorism Charges
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JACKSONVILLE (CBSMiami/AP) — A 21-year old man was sentenced to 20 years behind bars on Wednesday, accused of conspiring to aid al-Qaida .
Shelton Thomas Bell is also accused of traveling to the Middle East to join terrorist groups.
Bell pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Jacksonville reported.
"We must be vigilant in investigating and prosecuting United States citizens who seek to travel overseas to assist terrorists," U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III said in a news release. "Not only do these individuals present an obvious threat abroad, they could also return to the United States after being radicalized and trained in the use of firearms, explosives and weapons of mass destruction."
An indictment said Bell planned to join Ansar Al-Sharia, another name for al-Qaida in the Middle East region. The group has taken responsibility for attacks on Yemeni forces, including a suicide bombing during a May 2012 parade that killed more than 100 soldiers.
Bell participated in physical, firearm and other training in Florida to prepare for armed conflict, federal agents said. Bell was also accused of soliciting others to travel overseas with him to train.
In September 2012, Bell and a juvenile went to Amman, Jordan, and made contact with someone who investigators said could help them travel to Yemen to participate in violent jihad, according to the indictment. The indictment does not say whether Bell ever entered Yemen.
Bell and the juvenile were eventually deported from Jordan to the United States in November 2012, authorities said.
Bell was arrested in the Jacksonville area on state charges in January 2013. He had built a computer-repair business with a partner and opened a booth at a flea market. Bell disappeared with several computers and thousands of dollars in cash from the partner, authorities said. Police suspected Bell later sold the computers. The partner told police he had known Bell for about a year and they had an arrangement in which the partner would buy broken computers, give them to Bell to fix, and they would split the profits.
Bell was still being held in the Duval County jail in Jacksonville in July 2013 when a grand jury indicted him on the terrorism charges.
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