How was San Francisco terror plot thwarted?
Former FBI Assistant Director Steve Pomerantz reacts to ex-Marine's arrest in California.
A California man held in connection with a Christmas Day bomb plot allegedly planned to "funnel people into an area in order to shoot them."
So says an indictment issued Thursday against Everitt Aaron Jameson, 26, a Modesto tow-truck driver who was arrested Dec. 22, initially on charges of attempting to assist the Islamic State group, or ISIS.
The indictment by a U.S. District Court grand jury in Fresno replaces a criminal complaint against Jameson and alleges that he intended to use pipe bombs as part of a planned attack at Pier 39, a popular tourist area in San Francisco.
The FBI arrested Jameson after he allegedly discussed his plans with undercover agents, including one he thought was associated with ISIS, authorities said.
Jameson asked for “remote timing devices from the person he believed was working for ISIS,” the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported, citing court records.
He told an undercover agent that Christmas Day would be “"the perfect day to commit the attack” and that he “did not need an escape plan because he was ready to die," the newspaper reported, citing an FBI affidavit.
Assistant federal defender Charles Lee said he hadn't been presented with the evidence and that his office would investigate the possibility of an entrapment defense. He said the federal charges were built only on statements that Jameson posted on his Facebook page.
Lee said the FBI did not find any bomb-making materials when they searched Jameson's home, and that two rifles and a handgun were legally owned by a relative and were locked in a gun case where Jameson couldn't access them.
Lee said that Jameson told the FBI undercover employee: "I also don't think I can do this after all. I've reconsidered."
The FBI says Jameson was inspired by an Oct. 31 attack at a bike path in New York City and by a 2015 attack in San Bernardino, Calif., the Fresno Bee reported.
Jameson is set for a court hearing Friday and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, the report said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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