By Sarah Brumfield
Antonio Martinez’s sentencing is set for April 6. (Photo: WJLA) BALTIMORE – A Maryland man pleaded guilty yesterday to trying to detonate what he thought was a car bomb outside a military recruiting center in suburban Baltimore, saying he was motivated by what he saw as an American war on Islam.
Antonio Martinez, 22, entered the plea to the charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against federal property. The plot to bomb the Armed Forces Recruiting Center in Catonsville in December 2010 was foiled by an FBI sting.
He had also faced a charge of trying to kill US officers and employees, but prosecutors agreed to drop the second charge at sentencing. The deal calls for a 25-year prison term.
Martinez, a US citizen who was born abroad, preferred to be called Muhammad Hussain after converting to Islam and signed the plea using both names.
Public records are unclear about when Martinez, a former part-time construction worker, moved to Maryland, but he attended Laurel High School in Prince George’s County.
In the plea agreement, Martinez acknowledges that he wanted to pursue jihad to the United States “to send a message that all American soldiers would be killed so long as the country continued its ‘war’ against Islam.’’
An FBI informant first communicated with Martinez on Facebook after seeing public posts “espousing his extremist views’’ and recognizing him from a mosque he attended, according to court documents.
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