NJ Man Plotted NYC Bombing in Support of ISIS: Prosecutors

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...-Pressure-Cooker-Found-in-Home-421461563.html

NJ Man Plotted NYC Bombing in Support of ISIS: Prosecutors
Authorities say Gregory Lepsky wanted to travel to Syria
Published 5 hours ago | Updated 4 minutes ago

A New Jersey man has been arrested for allegedly planning to set off a bomb in New York City in support of ISIS, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Gregory Lepsky, 20, will appear in Newark federal court to face once charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Lepsky was arrested Feb. 21 after a relative called police and said he had threatened to kill the family dog. While being treated for wounds to his arms, Lepsky said he had joined ISIS and had plane tickets to Turkey, according to a criminal complaint.

While searching his home, authorities found a brand new pressure cooker hidden in his closet.

Lepsky subsequently claimed, while in the hospital, that he had been in contact with ISIS members via Facebook and that he had been studying how to make a pressure cooker bomb with gunpowder, the complaint says.

"Lepsky also stated that he was going to take the pressure cooker and gunpowder to New York City, bring the items into a crowded area of Manhattan, and blow it up to kill people. Lepsky explained that he would be rewarded in the afterlife for this act," the complaint said.

Further investigation revealed that Lepsky had multiple conversations on Facebook in which he said he had converted to Islam and wanted to go to Syria to fight non-believers, according to court documents.

A search of his phone turned up a variety of anti-Semitic images , the ISIS flag and a picture of an armed Lepsky dressed in fatigues and making pro-ISIS hand gestures, the complaint says.

Lepsky is not the first local man to be arrested in recent months for attempting to join ISIS. In March, the FBI arrested a Long Island man who tried to travel to Syria to join the terror group, and last November a Brooklyn resident was arrested with similar plans.

Lawyer information for Lepsky was not immediately known. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the criminal charge.

 

[The Bobster]

https://nypost.com/2018/03/13/wannabe-jihadist-gets-prison-for-planning-nyc-bomb-attack/

Wannabe jihadist gets prison for planning NYC bomb attack
By Linda Massarella
March 13, 2018 | 3:55pm | Updated

A wanna-be Jersey Shore jihadist will spend at least 16 years in a federal prison after admitting Tuesday he planned to set off a Boston Marathon-type bomb in Manhattan to help the terror group ISIS.

Gregory Lepsky, 20, told a federal judge in Trenton he began hatching his blow-up plans in January 2017 by accessing ISIS directives and bomb-making instructions and then purchasing parts for a pressure cooker-type explosive.

Under a plea agreement, the Point Pleasant man will be sentenced to 16 to 19 years in prison and lifetime supervised release, US Attorney Craig Carpenito and John C. Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a joint announcement to nj.com.

Lepsky — who once insisted his name was Allah Abdel Rochman — initially was arrested for trying to kill the family’s pet dog with a combat knife.

In his home, investigators said they found the pressure cooker in a bedroom closet, along with the book “Martyrdom in Jihad versus Suicide Bombing.”

Investigators say his cellphone’s history also included terrorist search terms like “knife used for beheading,” “how to make anthrax powder” and “terrorist attacks 2016.”

Lepsky also bragged on social media he intended to fight for ISIS and wouldn’t mind being a martyr.

Sentencing for one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization was scheduled for June 19.